Hi,

I've posted quite a bit in the general forum about this...
07 GP base

But next year most likely switch from Dexcool, factory filled, to yellow but..

Upon inspecting the radiator, I noticed that dexcool seems to coat the sides of it... lightly... this was just like on our Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 1997...

So even if I flush the rad with distilled water twice, and put in yellow should I be okay.. or will I need to flush more times..
also if I put Prestone rad flush in the first time, would another flush help it come out or will some stay... I'm afraid to use products like this in case it eats seals.... over a long period of time in case it doesn't get flushed fully

My plan of a flush is to remove lower the radiator hose, connect then then refill... I won't be touching the knock sensors....

Does anyone know the capacity of the 3800 coolant?
Will the dexcool and Prestone yellow react and clog up passages?

In the fall I noticed that the fans don't seem to come on low speed... I think the fuse is in the engine compartment fuse box... btw I can't seem to remove the fuse cover for inside the car.. as in I don't want to apply too much force to break it.

Also I did post about the crud and all... I did have to clean the inside of the radiator cap to get it to flow better.. I'm thinking of replacing it next year, as when I open the cap, I notice that coolant isn't always right to the top, on one occasion yes..... I'm thinking it may not flow back properly..?

Otherwise it heats up fine.. after I cleaned the rad cap, I noticed the T doesn't stay stuck at the third line for too long....
does come up quite a bit after a highway run..

Thanks...

11.2qrts, i would recomending doing this ASAP dexcol sucks and is horrible for your car so i repeat do it ASAP the sooner the better IMO

the inside fuse box meaning the one between the door and the dash on the pass side? it's just held in by clips, i just applied constant pulling getting slowly stronger until it came off cause i didn't wanna break mine either

don't replace your cap until you get the coolant changed, it's causeing the dudubtr build up and what not, so once you get it all cleany cleany on the inside poor insome non-crap coolant (i perfer peak tbh but haven't herd bad about anything but dex haha) and clean your cap and put it back on, should be golden after that.

as far as the radiator flush bottle stuff i have no experience and was woundering if that would work as well

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

Thx Robodude...
11.2 quarts.. geez I wonder how much the rad has... the flush stuff I dunno I know Planeboy used it if I recall...

So the Dexcool and yellow won't react?

I can't change the coolant until the powertrain warranty is over... ends in February... then next year, spring, will change it as the winter here is cold hehe..
ya we'll have to do lots of cleaning next year sigh... I've been keeping an eye on the coolant seems clean now, like the reservoir and in the radiator...

I got the fuse panel off hehe, with force today

Btw car didn't start with the remote today, it cranked, and about to start but then stopped....
I've noticed when starting the car, even with the key, it turns and cranks, then a very short pause then it fires up.... am I looking into it too much?

nah should start almost instantly, have you ever cleaned your throttle body? (yes that is like my cure all haha it worked wonders for my car on start-up), if i remember right we have an electronic starter? so it sends a signal it's not actually the key puttin in work like in older cars, not 100% on that one though

as far as what will and wont mix i believe 50/50 is safe to mix but i would ask one of the other guys cause i'm not sure :embarrased: i wanna say theres a bottle of coolant at wal-mart that says safe to use at dex-col but once again not sure, so your not allowed to flush your coolant? i believe that your warrenty should allow you to flush your coolant because it is considered maintance, but everyones different so i would check first, i know the warrenty i got it pretty much useless haha

not sure on how much the radiator it's self hold, just know that's what it said the system held when i was lookin into changing my fubared t-stat

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

Rob covered most of the questions, but I'll try to help with the rest.
A 50/50 mix is generally the most common and will offer freeze protection to around -30*F, but you can do a 40%water 60%coolant to help if you see temps colder than that up there.
Yellow (actually just about any coolant other than VW's G11/G12 and even those usually don't play too nice) and Dexcool do not mix no matter what the bottles say. It causes Dexcool to do it's sludge crap due to the different chemical compounds.
As Rob said, just wait to replace the radiator cap after dexcool is out of the system, but really if you clean it well enough you don't even need to replace it. The reason coolant isn't at the top of the filler neck is due to the system's design, not the cap's failure. When the system heats up it pressurizes (thus creating a higher boiling point) and if the cap pressure (not sure what it is on these cars something like 19 psi though would be my guess) is exceeded the cap opens and allows extra coolant to flow into the overflow tank. Then when the system cools down and depressurizes, there's a vacuum in the system and thus the cap will open again and allow coolant from the overflow tank to come back into the radiator. However, the system isn't perfect and doesn't always top off the filler neck due to lack of vacuum in that little of space left without coolant. So the system can be functioning perfectly fine, and never be completely "topped off."

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

Thanks Rob and Matt....

ya lots of electronics now...
As for the Throttle body.. how we go about cleaning that? I cleaned the maf sensor on the Oldsmobile.. when we had it... is the maf resistors across two or three metal beams..... I haven't touched it yet.. and if its clean then what could be the issue?

Oh ya for the warranty, we can flush the coolant, but if we put in yellow, GM calls for Dexcool.. then sometime happens....
tha rad cap is getting harder to screw on... wasn't like this at first...

Another issue is that with two water flushes, will all the dexcool be out so I can use prestone yellow or will there still be some dex left in somewhere... that could sludge up with the new prestone yellow....?

I still get vibrations at idle... like in the post in the general section... how are the belt tensioners on these?
I was able to push down on the belt, need quite a bit of force... until it could nearly touch the Water pump..
- when I start the car, the engine seems to jump, and this is felt in the car, also when shutting it off...

I still get the lights flickering moving from D to Park.... and turning the wheel at slow turns.... more vibrations when changing vent modes

Thanks

there's a right up in the DIY section i believe on the throttle body clean up, real simple to do, but if your doing it be warned, 1 it evaporates quicker than you'd expect two it gets real cold if you get it on your hands haha other than that you should be fine
Linkage -> "http://www.gpona.com/forums/do-it-yourself-f12/clean-your-maf-throttle-body-t3899.html" big thanks to fruitloop
-just read through that and you'll be fine, never touch the wire -if it's clean we shall cross that bridge as it comes haha

i don't comprehend what your trying to say one the second bit there i'm sorry

two flush and a good scrubbin of your now died and crudded up overflow bottle should get it all out just fine, whatevers left will be so little that if it does react it wont cause a problem

yea i would def get that belf tightened shouldn't be that easy mines got like .05% slack haha, as for vibrations you might want to check your dog bone mounts (i believe thats what it is, it's a rubber piece connected to the dog bone that can be flipped), other than that i'm not sure, i got the wobble of death in the back of my car at speeds below 70 that i still have no idea to the cause

some vibrations at idle are ok, i mean after all combustions goin on, however if its like makin your hand numb jack hammer vibrations thats a big problem that you should have attended to rather soon

lights flickering i can't help on unfortunatly, no idea with wiring except that it will shock me haha, maybe an alternator problem? but that's just a poke in the dark, vent modes causeing vibrations however makes it seem that your belt might be floppin around in there, at any rate i'd get that fixed with a quickness

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

The link Rob posted for the TB and MAF cleaning is a very good guide. Some 04+ owners have to clean the TB due to the car not wanting to start when the engine is warm due to so much carbon buildup blocking the flow through the throttle plate, which doesn't open as much during warm start as it does cold start.

As for the vibrations, some is normal. These engines are actually very unbalanced and even have a "balance" shaft in the lifter valley to offset some of the vibration. You could however check your motor mounts just to make sure they are okay. The lower engine mount (the one right below the harmonic balancer/crank pulley) is a oil filled hydraulic mount and if it starts to leak the engine shaking will be a little more noticeable and when the trans shifts or the torque converter locks up, it feels like the engine wants to jump out of the bay.
As Rob mentioned also check the upper dogbone mounts, and if you want to give it a shot, it's really easy to flip them to stiffen them up, which will translate slightly more smaller vibrations, but should dampen bigger shakes.

As for the coolant, 2 flushes should get all the dex out and if there is any small bit left shouldn't be an issue with yellow.


If the belt has never been changed, I'd look into getting a new one. The tensioner is probably fine, but the belt might be stretched slightly.

When you shift and turn the wheel at idle you put load on the engine which causes an rpm drop, which will then translate into the alternator turning slower and thus less power output so that is probably why the lights are acting up. When changing the vent modes, does it only do it going to or from front defrost setting or all vent modes? If it's only doing it on defrost, then it's the A/C compressor turning on and thus bogging down the engine.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

Thanks Robodude and Matt.

I see about the TB cleanup, very good post fruitloop did... never touch the wires, as in the three metal pieces sticking out?

2nd thing, rad cap?

Ok so two flushes, what I'm gonna do is drop the lower rad hose,and fill with distilled water... two times!! and hope nothing gets clogged... oh ya a 195 tstat...
Overflow cleaned when we got the car, it was dirty as fudge haha.. and dealer says they inspected everything...

As for the belt it does show on the third notch on the tensioner itself... you think the belt stretched that much... and only 0.05% slack.... hmm this is pretty bad then what I'm experiencing... a new belt fix that.. or new tensioner...

Put it this way, next year I should buy a aftermarket belt, swap it, see how it is, if I can still push the belt to the water pump... then change tensioner?

The car has 61k kms on it... could a belt stretch after this long.. according to the papers, looks like the gp was sitting on the lot from March to Sep...

The engine feels like it wants to jump out of the bay on start ups, hehe and off you feel it too.... I will try to check the mount sometime this week or next week, its snowing today a bit... flipping the dog bones... maybe, maybe next year.. huge difference?
The only way to check those dog mounts, is to flip them.... or if there is lots of play with the bolt?... does that make sense haha

I did read up about the 3800 balance thingy, thought it would have been all good by now hehe

I remember on the Olds that mount on the passenger side, was finished for years.. just left it like that...

Even when changing regular vent modes, it vibrates more, usually in D, not noticable in P or N.. cause the rpms go up....
In D its just a notch above 500rpm... It seems whenever the rpm is higher, with compressor on for defroster.. etc.. sometimes it higher.. its fine...
Maybe the alternator is messed up?... or could it be the belt tension isn't enough and that low of an rpm it starts to show... cause when I hold the window switch, feel a bit more vibration.. again all cyclical... I know it adds load on the alt...

it just pisses me off sometimes lol... get a car and well you know... lol

I hope this covers everything let me know.. thanks again....

forgot to add, there's a chirp on startup....... in cold weather... so probably the belt?

Btw the power steering moans.. in cold weather, and makes noise in certain positions.. next year I'm gonna slowly pull out the fluid from the reservoir and dump fresh one in.

no problem i enjoy bein able to help where i can, especially on cars lol

the rad cap getting harder to turn maybe a side effect of it gettin all gunkered up, is it hard to turn when it's dirty/cruded up?

sounds like a plan, and for the belt i would def get it replaced before the tensioner, as far as where i would say valvoline, i know it cost more, but mine was starting to shred and they replaced it with a lifetime warrenty, so thats nice and it helped gain back some umpf, like better throttle responce, but may have just been in my head

flipping the mounts takes liek 10mins max i would imagine, i would just do it now, i wanna say its a 15 socket..but don't quote me haha, you can sort of visually inspect them, they should be defined lines, but if it's anything like mine there all shredded to kcuf and need replaced any how haha

the vibrations you feel may indeed be from your fubar belt, so i would get that belt replaced and go from there but that's just me, i'm not exactly sure what would cause it

the power steering, sounds like u got a good plan, all i can say if i have seen a few people on here where theres is going out, just makein you aware incase that is the problem, i do find it odd however that every electrical movement drains more, do i'd look at the bolt and go from there

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

Thanks Rob....

ya maybe its gunked a bit, have to check... cleaned the inside before

Valvoline belt? sounds like a plan, I wonder how much though.... I believe that there is an improvement with minor things like this, even cleaning the maf on the Oldsmobile, noticed better economy, response, shifts...

I had a look at the mounts today and they look fine.. I had the car in D, and parking brake and looked at the engine bay looked fine.. not much going on, the tensioner moves very little, the upper mounts look fine.... maybe it is the lower mount, as now its colder maybe it has something to do with it..
I didn't bother to look at the size

One thing I'm concerned about is that when the engine is warm I hear rattling, knocking from on top and underneath... on cold start don't hear anything....
I got worried before about a flexplate....

the car was sitting around for a while, but now shouldn't be an issue...it starts up fine up to now

thanks,
Raj

hopefully it's not gunked up again if so i'd recommend the flush sooner than later, if it is clean, may not be all the way cooled down but that would be my only guess, cause i believe they tend to swell just slightly when they get all warmed up

i believe mine was like 100ish? not sure cause i got a bunch done at the time, but IMO def worth the cost for the warrenty , yup MAF and TB made my car happy so not i recommend it to everybody

not sure setting the car in D and useing the E to hold it there is a good idea, i believe that could harm somethings TBH, as far as the motor mounts even though they aren't all shredded like mine (cause i'm cool like that lol) i would still flip them, it's been benifical for others on the forum from my understanding of it. Mounts of i haven't an idea on, just hope mine never go out, never even looked at mine but i probably should, i'm sure Matt would know though he's got alot more exp than i do

The rattle could come from a bunch of things, TBH i don't think i can diagonis that one without being there, got a video with good sound quality of the noise?

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

The rad cap is clean now, so is the reservoir.. I should check it again soon.... what you said about the swelling is possible!

I see about the belt price, will look into this... maybe opt for the regular one now!
The MAF and TB next year

lol flipping them, I'll see to that next year again, its a bit cold out now.. or on a mild day...

Maybe the flexplate, I only hear rattling, knocking when the car is warm, don't hear anything on a cold start.. I did talk about this before with Matt.. sometimes I hear things, get worried that it might be something more...
hear it go up with rpm.. windows down, near a barrier...

You hear it in the bay, and underneath, around the middle.... sounds like marbles, but its consistent.... it starts up fine.. etc.. it would be really disappointing to have a cracked flexplate... Video I don't really have any decent resources....
do flexplates cause vibration? but either way let go of the brake it stops....

I also get the vibrations when turning the wheel... when I am stopped.

I average out about ~210km for half a tank of gas, city and highway driving.. I do short trips to work and back.... sounds about right or...this is with the weather now, in the single and minuses, Celsius.

thx

hhhmmm roughly 130miles then? not horrible, i mean that is or is slightly slightly under average, cause your getting roughly 20mpg and i get about 21/24 dpending on the music on the radio that week haha

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

hmm ya the vibration is happening in R, 123... maybe mounts then..

What else could fix gas mileage, this sucks that I'm getting not so good milage... MAF cleaning?

the dealer put in a new air filter, I checked it too after...
I do quite a bit of short trops, but light on the take off... sigh...

lol radio during the week hehehhe gunning it?

"lol radio during the week hehehhe gunning it?" exactly if they go old school and play any Fast and Furious music or Ludacrisis Move B1t@h, it's all pedal to the metal and 4000rpms haha

as far as the mileage, you could replace that dudu filter with a better insert of throw out the whole box and get a HAI (hot air intake like o so many of us have) or a CAI (Cold Ait Intake, if you got the dough or the inguinuity(sp?) for it)

MAF you should see to much unless it's got like a small town worth of build up in it which i seriously doubt, but anythings possible haha, you could always do a quick tune up, spark plugs, if your oil needs changed that can affect MPG as well, at any rate short trips and stop and go driving murk on MPG, not much you can do to fight that bit

Vibrations happening only in reverse...hmmm...maybe be signs of a slowly going tranny (as that car is infamous for its clown farts and rainbow made transmission) but that is simply speculation from me, it could very well be the mounts, i'm not 100 on vibration diagnostics because I myself have vibrations and IDK where they're coming from lol

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

lol hehehe Fast anf Furious hehehe.. man I can't believe its already that old.. lol now i feel old hehe... 4k rpms nice... haha feels good to do it sometime... did a bit of WOT on the highway today unleashing the beast haha

well they put in a new air filter.. I think it should be fine... hehe...... as for HAI, CAI or throwing out the box.. lol won't be doing that.. :d tight on cash..... won't have a job soon haha...

The maf, plugs, in time.. not right away.... oil change we did it last month...

As for that within a month, burnt about one operating bar of oil.... got me worried now.. nothing seems to be leaking...

Which kind of PCV valve does the 3800 N/A have? As I called the dealership, and there is two versions, one with a cap, assembly... or an individual one for the 2007 GP 3800 n/a.... I don't know which one to get... I see that in the service manual its located underneath the MAP... any ideas on part numbers?

Again lots of short trips.... this time gas mileage, not too good... rough idle happens sometimes....

Vibrations happen in all gears, except N and P, but in D, or etc... if I put the AC on, or front deforster... it goes away....
lol clown farts, rainbow made, lol first time I hear this hahah.... meaning... jolly ppl making it.... hehe or taking sometime hahahha

thank you

lol it is fun , just in moderation of course otherwise theres a wallet delete mod by the gas pump haha, nom noms all your moneys, i try to keep it 4k or under, cause that's what i feel comfortable with only ever hits 4 if i'm not watching it

just food for thought, they have some set ups for the air filter for like 6 bucks on Ebay (HAI of course) but just food for thought, sorry to hear about you loseing your job soon? was it jus seasonal or? if you don't mind my asking

so your for sure it's burning it? would just hate to rule out it's leaking from somewhere, but your there so i'll trust the judgement lol

i would go with the one for the individual, but that's just me i would ask one of our more experienced mechanics here though, sorry :s, no clue on parts #s

if you have the DIC that tell you your instant mpg i would just watch that, see where your loseing the MPG, that's what i did at first cause every car drives different, just see where your getting low mpg and work on that area

i would look at that belt then, cause when you turn on either of those too it puts more strain on the motor because it's more the motors gotta turn, so it may be that the belt is moving with less resistance and wiggling because it has slack in it, but once again, just pure speculation

and by the clown farts and rainbow made, means that hopes and dreams are holding this trans together, they aren't that good and are known to fail

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

hehhe gunning is fun... I had to read the wallet delete mod by gas pump a few times hahahha hilarious....

I try to keep it low, not too much into the 5k, every now and then....

HAI? air filter? hehe stock will be okay for now haha

Burning seems like it, where else would it leak on these cars.. I think I read up oil pressure sender, near oil filter area and valve cover? I can't see any leaks yet... I hope there is none.


http://autorepair.about.com/library/wee ... 71205e.htm

it looks like its on the third, nominal belt line... and after is the long segment to replace the belt...
maybe we should.... cheaper alternative..
Also the markings, stamped names on the belt, the inner part, towards engine looks worn compared to the rest... lol wiggling... reminds me of that video, or that popular song...haha

Thank you for the PCV, input and in the other post fellow Gpers mention the same thing, and found a guide for it.
http://macgp.clubgp.com/howto/engine/pcv/gt/pcv.html

The guy has some more stuff on his site...

I got now 5 button DIC only 3, hehe...

The trans.. I'm surprised at that.. the one on our Olds, 4t60e was pretty decent... I really believed that the powertrain on these GP and Impala were durable... . clown farts and rainbows, wow I may have to use this expression in the future.. haha

The job was contract, temporary.. I knew for a little while.. even working at this place I was looking for something in my field... of environment.. cartography, and no dice... its just stressful...


Thank you