2001 grand prix 3800 heat issues. HELP PLEASE

[simplyfamous]

new to the site and im hoping somebody can help me out. as i am a ford man by career, my wife loves her grand prix. great car, not a complaint.. until it started to get cold this season and we noticed the temp is NOT rising like it should at ALL. checked the the overflow and its where it should be, popped the cap off the radiator, and found nasty brown sludge.. dealer she bought it from changed the oil for her for free every 3000 and has never said there was coolant in the oil, so im out of ideas. coudl this still be the head gasket? if so how hard is it to do myself? i dont know squat about these motors. theres no blue oval anywhere

[dysan]

The common issues are the lower and upper intake manifold gaskets which are made of plastic and fail. I don't know how proficient with engines you are so I can't say if you could do it or not. Just search for the lower and upper manifold gaskets on the forum and there are some write-ups on how to do them.

[Jakegday]

that sludge could just be from maintenance neglect (dexcool does that HORRIBLY if not maintained properly)

could be a bad thermostat. are you saying the engine doesnt get hot, or just the heater? if your cooling systems been neglected it could be a clogged heater core (fun stuff), or clogged hoses going to and from the heater core. who knows, maybe your blend door is just not functioning properly

since you mentioned the sludge, its got me thinking.... the first thing i would do (its free) is disconnect your heater core and rig it up to a garden hose and see if the flow is ok. i just changed the heater core in my 81 fairmont last week. it was clogged completely from cooling system neglect

[Zef_66]

As jake mentioned, I would first suspect the coolant just being gunked up. Have the coolant system flushed, or do it yourself. It isn't that hard. Then put in new coolant. Also flush the heater core as mentioned. Don't forget to get a new thermostat and install while the coolant is drained.

But you also should consider changing the LIM gaskets as they are known for going bad. Every gp needs them done, so make sure you do them at some point.

[simplyfamous]

unbelievable help. thanks guys. im on a 2week pd vacation from work so im going to get it in the garage after xmas and get it done. thanks alot. i'll post up the fix whne its complete.