# 2000 Olds Silhouette heats up

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-olds-silhouette-heats-up/72398>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [May 12, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-olds-silhouette-heats-up/72398 "2012-05-12T23:20:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Oldsilhouetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e36b37/32.png) [@Oldsilhouetter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Oldsilhouetter)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-olds-silhouette-heats-up/72398/1 "2012-05-12T23:20:26Z")

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When in the mountains our van heats up, and our mechanic doesn’t know what to suggest. What would you suggest?

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**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-olds-silhouette-heats-up/72398/2 "2012-05-12T23:56:00Z")

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How many miles are there on the van? How often has the coolant been checked/replaced? When was the last time? I assume that the engine is overheating, correct? Describe the problem more fully.

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**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-olds-silhouette-heats-up/72398/3 "2012-05-13T02:39:59Z")

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Does the “van heat up”?  
Or, does the van’s engine heat up, with no impact on the temperature of the interior of the van?  
Can you clarify this for us?

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**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2000-olds-silhouette-heats-up/72398/4 "2012-05-13T04:19:36Z")

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As you can tell since you’ve only gotten questions so far, no one can even begin to say anything unless you provide more info.

If the van is actually overheating - making it to the red zone on the gauge - then you obviously have a cooling system problem. The list of potential issues is really long.

So be very specific about “heat up,” tell folks your maintenance history especially re: the cooling system, and tell folks what your mechanic has actually done. At the very least you could tell people whether the coolant levels have been checked.