What's wrong with this van

[sbin]

hey guys,

just checking out this Chevy lumina APV, the owner said that the temp gauge will go to the RED line after driving about 30mins. he took it to many shops and they cant find out what's wrong with it. the temp is around 90c after 30mins. is 90c normal?

what's wrong with it? fixable?

thank you so much!

[boyoflondon]

If its getting hot it means that its not being cooled down ... In this case, only thing that comes to mind is the radiator.

[v82slo]

- bad head gasket
- bad thermostat
- bad rad cap
- clogged rad
- broken cooling fan
- bad temp gauge (cluster)
- coolant leak
- does it have coolant?
- your guess here...

[D-3vil]

A quick google search revealed that 200ºF (or 93ºC) seems to be the normal running temp for many engines, so your temp sensing circuit may be faulty.

That being said, if you have the 3.1L V6 engine (which, if memory serves me right, has had a higher occurence of head gasket failures than most), I would check the head gasket as well.

[NorthYorker]

hey guys,

just checking out this Chevy lumina APV, the owner said that the temp gauge will go to the RED line after driving about 30mins. I have no idea what normal operating temperature of GM 3.1 V6 engine, but the needle should stay in the middle of the gauge. Or do you mean 3.8?

[rayner55]

means its time for a new water pump. my previous vehicle had the same problem in that the temp guage would just sail up there.

[sbin]

Hi,

my biggest concern would be the head gasket, how do i check if it's the head gasket that fails?

[B0000rt]

Hi,

my biggest concern would be the head gasket, how do i check if it's the head gasket that fails?

Coolant in Oil (oil is milky)

or White smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe

[sbin]

Coolant in Oil (oil is milky)

or White smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe

the color of the engine oil looks milky colored? i have to open the engine oil cap to see it?

thanks!

[B0000rt]

the color of the engine oil looks milky colored? i have to open the engine oil cap to see it?

thanks!

If the headgasket is gone yes, the engine oil will look milky (because the coolant will leak into the oil). Just pull up the dip stick and see..

[sbin]

thanks!!

[drmrjohn62]

This van also has a puller fan and a pusher fan-they do go bad as I have had to replace mine-one fan is for Air Conditioning and the other is a cooling fan-you can find all kinds of info at www.autozone.com they have pretty much every car made in their database and its all free-look for your model and year then click on repair guides- a ton of info at their site and yo can get correct tempurature ranges and proper test proceedures-hope that helps.

[Brandon]

Gasket failure is a big problem with these vans. My family has a 2002 Chevy Venture and had to get it replaced (luckily it was within warranty, otherwise it would have cost A LOT to replace).

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=302595&highlight=venture+gasket

[ES_Revenge]

That being said, if you have the 3.1L V6 engine (which, if memory serves me right, has had a higher occurence of head gasket failures than most), I would check the head gasket as well.
Check the head gasket, yes. However no the 3.1L V6 (any of the 3.1L MPFI LG0 or 3100 L82 or LG8 engines) did not have any higher-than-usual occurence of head gasket failures.

What is a very common failure on these engines (particularly the 3100--the L82 or LG8 engines) is the Lower Intake Manifold gaskets. This can also cause coolant in the oil and overheating and eventual engine failure. Overheating is not always present however, and is more a symptom of head gasket (or head) failure; however it can occur with either condition.

Also usually a head or head gasket failure will show as coolant in the oil, whereas a LIM failure may never leak a substantial amount of coolant into the oil at all (leaking only externally). However in this case the engine probably won't overheat either (unless you let the coolant drain to nothing) so the problem is most likely an internal LIM leak or any of the other things listed above by v82slo.

[VivienM]

Gasket failure is a big problem with these vans. My family has a 2002 Chevy Venture and had to get it replaced (luckily it was within warranty, otherwise it would have cost A LOT to replace).

Intake manifold gasket on one of these is about $500-600 to get fixed at a dealer, IIRC... not sure I would really qualify this as "a LOT".

[ES_Revenge]

Intake manifold gasket on one of these is about $500-600 to get fixed at a dealer, IIRC... not sure I would really qualify this as "a LOT".

Considering the case of the OP who has a Lumina APV which by name tells it must be at least 10-11 years old (last year for the APV awas 1996) and possibly older, the cost of replacing the LIM at a dealership is likely more than the vehicle is worth.

[weedb0y]

Honda's timing belt costs around the same and it needs to be replaced every few years as well. Same sh1t.

[Brandon]

Intake manifold gasket on one of these is about $500-600 to get fixed at a dealer, IIRC... not sure I would really qualify this as "a LOT".

For my family's van we were quoted $1000 from Applewood Chevrolet (then we complained a lot and got it fixed under warranty as a manufacturer defect by bringing up the lawsuit in the US).

[NorthYorker]

I was always under impression that head gasket problem affected 3.4 engines and pre-1996 APVs had either 3.1 or 3.8. Correct me if I'm wrong...