So I have a 2002 Chevy Impala pretty much has over heated since I got it but I kept water in in everyday. Never got stalled or stranded. Anyways 1 years later all of a sudden my car over heated bad although it overheated it’s still ran like a brand new car never no problems ran great. Well it started over heating even with water it was bizarre then we realized the fuse for fan some reason kept blowing. So on a 25 minute drive home we had to stop six times to change the fuse just so we could get home. Car ran great again soon as fuse was replaced. Anyhow I decided to not drive it until I took it into a real mechanic he said that my head gasket was blown. I could not understand or agree. I mean how could that be? my car runs so good. I can never afford replacing the the engine. I’m a camp fire Survivor lost everything in the fire in paradise. I barely can afford much of anything yet alone replace my ingine so I heard about bars gasket sealer there was a lot of different opinions on it but at this point it was my only hope I had left to save my car for a little while longer . So I did it exactly like they said . I noticed at time time we were letting car idle for that 15 min all the white smoke just went away still does not smoke. I was happy figured omg it must have worked. Well we drove it around block every thing was fine heater was hot I was so happy. Another day I want to see the grandkids they’re about 10 minutes away break My gage that tell you when your car is hot it’s hot kept going back and forth to high them back to the middle. So I panicked and got my car home fast. Two days later I changed out the thermostat. So again it ran perfectly then it over heated again! even though full of water and antifreeze the fuse kept blowing out every time we put a new fuse it blows. I can’t understand what’s going on. So frustrated all I know is something is shorting out the fuse to my fan in my car. Do you know what to think where the shirts coming from or maybe the fan isn’t working well we can’t figure out what keeps shorting the fuse my life very hectic right now I’m losing my mind from my car and not be with out my car. I feel so sad. I just no despite all this she still runs like a brand new car until it over heats . Well somebody told me today but I can’t straight a fan to my car battery and then I run for it and I will not sure about that either. And if my circumstances I can’t afford to buy any parts or repair anything in so if anybody have any input on this so I can do good safety to do that to my fan please somebody help me.
It sounds like your are uncertain your mechanic has provided the correct diagnosis. If a car engine overheats but has no symptom’s other than the coolant temp gauge, a head gasket failure diagnosis could in fact be incorrect. Could just be a faulty coolant temp sensor, etc. Shops have methods to test for actual head gasket failure, e.g. chemical test for exhaust gasses dissolved in coolant. Suggest you ask another shop confirm/disprove the original diagnosis. Second opinion in other words seems warranted.
If you do have a head gaskeet failure, suggest to spend your money on something that will actually fix it, long term. New head gasket. The “magic” products are usually only short term fixes, if that.
If your situation is plenty of time, no money, a diy’er with a good set of tools and some help from a friend from time to time, they can replace a head gasket. Will take quite a long time, a lot of patience, is all.
Thank you very much for responding and it’s not like I didn’t believe him but my car didn’t have any of those symptoms. I mean this can has get up power. I just can’t understand why the fuse to fan keeps blowing out which turn my fam.off. do you think okay why is the fan to the battery so I can have a car have my car from A 2 B ? This way my fan out turn off and my car will stop over heating
If the fuse for the fan keeps blowing, the fan motor is probably worn out to where the in-rush current to try to start the fan is greater than the fuse amp rating, and the fuse blows.
Tester
I would also check the wires going to the fan to see if there are any cuts or chaffing that could cause a short. also look inside the connectors for any melting of the plastic.
Just a thought… being money is tight. check with your local high schools. some have auto tech programs where they teach the kids to work on cars. they may be willing to fix your vehicle for just the cost of parts. it does not hurt to ask.
If the head gasket really is bad and it’s not worth fixing, you could disconnect the fuel injector on the affected cylinder and drive it with one less cylinder and less power and more vibrations. Better disconnect the oxygen sensor too.
All that will do is give you an even crappier running overheating engine.
You apparently overheated your engine repeatedly. A failed head gasket really isn’t a surprising result of that negligence.
Now you know the cost of hoping a problem goes away by ignoring it.
Not a good idea. Engine compartment fans are not designed to run 100% of the time. If it is cold where you live, try turning on heater and heater fan to max. That will provide some engine cooling.
Before taking that approach though, suggest to consider carefully the advantages & disadvantages of using work-a-rounds to address cooling system problems. At this point the only problem w/your car may have is a faulty head gasket. After work-a-rounda, the fix may require a replacement engine.
There’s a many-times told humorous story from the Car Talk radio show about caller Dave from Bemidji who wired his engine fan directly to battery.
Actually I do agree with you but the thing is- it’s not about me being negligent or just downright irresponsible it’s a part of me not having finances and a person to help me fix my car. And be honest with you I don’t no much about cars all I know is once I put water in it it was good for a couple days tthen Id put more water. I guess long as it got me for me to be I was happy.Especipally because my car does and runs so damn good I never thought anything was going on bad a lot of cars have leaks. Despite the times it’s overheated it’s never lost power and it’s never died and it continues to literally run like a brand new car this is why it’s so baffling I looked up online to get a radiator fan anywhere from 50 to $100 or more so I’m just going to wait until I get the fan fixed before j drive it period. again thank you for your comment I thank everybody that took the time to comment whether it was a helpful one or make me feel stupid one. It’s all great advice as well as constructtve criticism. It’s all appreciated!
lets see:
above is why your head gasket is likely bad. If you don’t trust the mechanic, take it and get a second opinion. Sounds to me like you tried to ignore the issue, hoping it would get better. It didn’t. Also sounds like you may have figured out why the previous owner sold you this car…