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jdubbs54

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Thanks for the reply, I have 73,000 miles, maintenance is regular, oil change every 5,00 to 10,00 miles. regular checks on fluid levels. My wife noticed it overheated a week ago, and I grounded the vehicle until I find out how to fix it or have a mechanic check it out. But if I can fix it myself, I will. I am trying to find out if it is a regular problem with this model. I cannot see any leaks from the radiator (although it is hard to tell with the placement of said radiator), and I do not see any other places it could be leaking from. It is a 3.6L

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find a local  mechanic as it sounds like you might not be up to doing the work to find out the problem, also has the antifreeze ever been changed....do you have good heat coming out the heater. do you ever hear or see the rad fan coming on and off. so if you are not losing fluid i would suspect a bad thermostat and or the fans not working or the water pump not working properly..

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I suspect that the thermostat is bad, and I can change that. I also want to change out the coolant, because it has not been changed since I have owned the car, only added during normal fluid level checks. My question is can I drain it from the reserrvoir or is there a drain petcock on the radiator that I cannot see? can I disconnect the lower rad hose to drain from there? 

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Here is a post from onecrazyfoo4u who drained his coolant (with a link to the post)...you may want to contact him directly...

 

 

Finally got around to doing this. I was only able to get about 6 quarts of fluid in after the change. That's just the capacity of the radiator, reservoir bottle, and hoses it seemed like. So over half the fluid you can't get it since it's stuck in the HVAC system. I drained it, then refilled with water. Let it warm up and circulate fluid, then drained again and refilled with fluid. When I refilled, I open the bleeder screw on the hose by the thermostat mount. I'm not too concerned with only changing out half the fluid. Fluid looked perfect coming out, at 105k miles of hot desert usage.

BTW, the radiator drain petcock is the worst ever. You loosen it completely, and it only pisses out a tiny stream, would take an hour to drain. So you have to loosen all the way and pull the whole valve out, making a huge mess all over yourself. But whatever, it's done now. The hardest part of the job was taking out the dozen bottom air dam panel fasteners without trying to break them!

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Is coolant lower than you would expect given the current ambient temperature range?

 

Have you checked the condition of your engine oil?  If it has an appearance similar to chocolate milk, it would be a head gasket failure (not necessarily a job you can't DIY, but depending on your skill set, one that might need to be paid for).

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