Here in Florida my hot engine light came on?

TSKINNER

MEMBER
2002 BUICK RENDEZVOUS

About 3 wks ago I traveled 3 days, 8-10 hours each with my a/c on. Altogether it was 1,650 miles. My car now has 89,000 miles on it. A week after I had been here in Florida my hot engine light came on. When I looked under my hood I noticed that my coolant reservoir was completely empty. A few days later I took it in to get a coolant pressure check done. They came back to me saying that they could not find a leak anywhere! I have no idea what could be wrong. A year ago I had my intake manifold replaced. Every now and then I will get that sweet smell; when I am at a high acceleration and when I get out of the car after it has been turned off. Any ideas at what could be the problem? I am so frustrated at having to deal with many problems with this model. Your comments will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

4 Replies

SERVICE WRITER

MECHANIC
9,123 POSTS

If it isn't going outside then its going inside. May have been a poor job when the intake was replaced.#1 problem of repeat failures, may be head gasket.

When they checked the pressure did they just not find a leak or did the pressure not drop while the pressure tester was hooked up?

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Sunday, September 9th, 2007 AT 9:22 PM

TSKINNER

MEMBER
2 POSTS

They just told me that they couldn't find a leak. Nothing about the pressure. I had told them that I had that gasket replaced a year ago and he said that it may not have been sealed all the way so I'm assuming they checked that. When they ran the test shouldn't they have found something wrong with the head gasket if that is the problem?

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Monday, September 10th, 2007 AT 4:38 AM

SERVICE WRITER

MECHANIC
9,123 POSTS

I would expect they should have some idea of what is going on, although sometimes things like a waterpump can leak and then not leak.

Techs have different skill levels. A saavy tech would hold the pressure and monitor is for a few hours if needbe when there are no external leaks. IF pressure drops and still ne leaks are found, (assuming his equipment is good) then it is causing internal leakage and can be further diagnosed. Pulling the plugs and spinning the engine over will show a head gasket or possible intake leak. Checking the oil after setting overnight, and slowly opening the oil pan plug will show coolant that entered the crankcase that is indicative of either gasket failure.

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Monday, September 10th, 2007 AT 7:35 AM

DBGAIN