I have a 2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue. It constantly runs hot and I don’t know why. We have replaced the thermostat, the water pump, and the water jug to no avail. The new water jug has now sprung a leak. I’m incredibly frustrated. We can’t find the bleeder valve, which is likely the next step we’ll take to fix it. Does anyone know what the problem is or how to fix it? (the engine is a 3.5) Thanks
Just based on past experience, I’d put my money on a head gasket if you’ve done everything you mentioned above.
Two frequent reasons why a car overheats are 1) a clogged radiator and 2) the electric cooling fan does not come on. I would check the coooling fan operation first. If that’s Ok, and it still overheats, you should flush out the radiator if that is still possible. On the 10 year old car that has seen little service of the cooling system it is often easier just to replace the radiator.
In any case, I would take it to a specialty radiator shop to have it inspected first befiore repalicnfg it .
Thanks Lucas822 and Docnick!
Tee, my sympathies to you. I had a 2001 Intrigue with only 95K miles on it when it started developing this problem 2 years ago, running hot and losing coolant. Systematically, and one at a time I had all radiator/cooling system parts replaced starting with the obvious and easiest to replace items (spending about 4K total). The head gaskets were replaced several times (as another person here suggested on my post last summer) as when it runs hot these are compromised. Even after all of this effort, the car continued to have this problem that worsened over time. At the end, I had to add 1.5 gallons of coolant (just water at this point) every day before driving and the car’s range before overheating got progressively shorter. Recently, I sold the car for parts (the exterior and interior were in great shape) and when the 3.5 liter engine was removed and disassembled most of the inner block coolant channels were corroded and clogging. The mechanic was familiar with this problem and would have recommended having a rebuilt engine installed instead of all the work I did. BTW - the bleeder valve (shaped like a wing nut) is on the upper left side (facing the car) of the radiator. This was used to remove air from the coolant system which was another suggestion that didn’t work. If this matches your problem, you may want to cut your losses now.
I’d start with a new cap for the reservoir. If the radiator has a cap on it, then I’d replace that. As for bleeding, if you have that radiator that does not have a cap on it, the only cap being the cap on the reservoir, then the system is self bleeding.
BUT, the tube that bleeds the system is very small and if it gets clogged up, you will have overheating problems. You will find a 1/4" tube going from the top. backside of the reservoir to some point on the head. Remove this tube and make sure it is clear.
3.5 is related to the caddy northstar which is notorious for blowing headgaskets. Combustion gas pressurizes cooling system and cracks plastic housings. Overflow tank, radiator, hoses.