'04 GTP (L32) Overheating After I Let my Wife Drive It!

[fastmvr]

Okay, I know....first lesson learned....don't let your wife drive your car.....but, I needed her truck for work......she called me while I was on my way home saying that my car had overheated as she was pulling into our subdivision. I got up this morning and checked into the situation and at first I thought "broken thermostat or bad water pump" but upon further investigation, I noticed something strange. After starting the engine while in park, the temperature gauge had not even started to move when smoke started to come off of the engine (front side) and when I opened the oil filler cap.....smoke was coming out of there. My first thought was "oil pump" and then I remembered a post regarding the lower intake manifold gasket. With the lower intake manifold going bad and the mixing of oil and coolant......that would give me the symptoms I am experiencing right???

The car has right at 99K miles on it....one owner prior to me and the car was always dealer serviced. I did not notice the oil having a "milky" appearance like I would have expected. Coolant level is a little less than normal and oil level is adequate. The check engine light is on now so I am suspecting a bad sensor after the overheating event. Engine runs fine and smooth. My son said it smelled like "maple syrup" after they got home last night......no fluids on the driveway.

I don't have a lot of spare time so I am probably going to have to pay a mechanic to fix it.....but I want as clear of a picture of the potential probelm as possible prior to dropping $ on the problem......unless I can fix it in 4 or 5 hours on the weekend. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I live near Dallas, TX so the recommendation of a GTP knowledgeable mechanic would also be helpful.

[Tuner-Extraordinaire]

I can recommend a good L67 experienced mechanic.

You're out in rockwall county though, So you might be out your car for a couple days. PM me

[mikedinthecity]

t stat, coolant elbows.....these could be a simple fix to do it yourself. let us know what you find out thanks

[fastmvr]

t stat, coolant elbows.....these could be a simple fix to do it yourself. let us know what you find out thanks

Would that cause steam to come out of the oil filler opening when the cap is removed while the engine is running? (Only ran it for a few minutes....enough to see steam/smoke rising up from the engine......temp gauge didn't hardly budge.) I guess I don't fully understand the coolant elbow scenario. I will do some searching on the forum. Thanks for your suggestion.

[dsmuts]

If it is indeed the lim gasket i just did my first one on a 3800 on monday and it took around 3 hours.

[fastmvr]

Additional information: My work schedule is crazy for this week and I only had a brief moment to go and see if the oil was milky......it did not appear to be. Bad news......now there is fresh oil in the driveway under the car.......I plan on tearing into it early Saturday morning. The video showing the LIM gasket replacement on this site is incredible! Thanks for the info regarding time.....I am sure it will take me more but that is okay. Spent about 20 minutes last night going through the extensive history of the car....it was ALWAYS serviced at the dealer that the previous owner bought the car at........boy was he ripped-off!!! It convinced me further that I want to do this myself. Any ideas about what the problem might be with the additional symptom information will be greatly appreciated.

[BillBoost37]

My first thought is .. coolant isn't up to temp, something is burning. Most likely oil from a valve cover gasket.. Maybe a bad pcv, not sure how she was able to overheat it.

[fastmvr]

The plot thickens. Tore the top part of engine down to expose an obvious LIM gasket failure. See pictures. I will be replacing valve cover gaskets as well since I'm here. Tstat works but will be replaced anyway. I guess it is possible that enough coolant had leaked over a few days/weeks since LIM gasket failure which would have explained the overheating event. However, I explicitly remember steam/smoke rising from below my front 3 spark plugs....see picture on next post. I am almost certain that my coolant reservoir was full the morning after the overheating event. So here is my dilemma. Do I go ahead and replace water pump while I am here? Almost 100K miles on it. Next dilemma, was that smoke/steam coming from a blown head gasket? My wife drove approximately 2 miles with the temp gauge pegged in the red. If I replace the head gaskets, how much more work from where I am at? It has been about 27 years since I have been into a motor to that level. I am inclined to hope the smoke/steam was channeled to the front of the motor and just manifested there. Is this too much wishful thinking or have others experienced this too? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[MoarkatsINmuhtrailer]

Head gaskets will be fine. No need to pull them.

[fastmvr]

Okay, feeling a little better now. Borrowed a boroscope from the office and confirmed (to the best of my untrained ability) that there are no fluid leaks around the head gasket. My guess is that the leaking coolant (out of the LIM gasket corner) found its way to the front of the motor and pooled on the exhaust manifold guard and then vaporized from there. Beginning to put things back together with the best advice possible....thanks to all of you that posted and sent pm's.

One issue that I have been considering today is regarding the fans.......I noticed when I tested the car right before I tore down the top part of the motor that the fans did not come on even though the temp gauge climbed almost to the red (very quickly after slowly making its way to the mid point). Also noticed the check engine light was on. Didn't have the ability to scan for codes but read somewhere on the forum somebody had a similar overheating event and the code for bad heat sensor was evident. While the motor is at this level of disassembly, I might as well replace the sensor(s). Noticed a sensor just to the right of water pump. Is this the one and only or is the sensor close to the t-stat a possible culprit as well? Thanks....again.

[dsmuts]

Turn on the ac and see if the fans come on then. If they don't it might be a fuse or relay.

[fastmvr]

I can't express my sincere gratitude enough! Thanks for all who replied via posts and pm's to my dilemma. Took the day off from work to complete my project and everything turned out perfect. End result is a perfectly running L32 with a new LIM gasket, new valve cover gaskets, new water-pump, new t-stat, new injector o-rings, new ECT sensor and new fluids.

For those of you curious about the steam/smoke coming off the front of the motor, turns out that the overheating caused by lack of coolant due to LIM gasket failure caused the valve cove gasket to also fail causing oil to make it's way to the exhaust manifold. While I was at this level of dismantling, I cleaned everything to an almost new state. One of my best friends who is a life-long mechanic said "that level of clean only comes from an owner". Feeling pretty good about now. My plates just came in and this 46 year old is getting ready to cruise through town. Thanks again everyone.

[SlowNA06]

Lookin' good!