First Go with SeaFoam

[93formulalt1]

Well, now I'm pissed. . .

If anything was going to go wrong with my car, I thought it would be something oil or fuel related, since I normally run regular unleaded, and I filled up with Premium and put Seafoam in yesterday. . . Well, apparently cars just hate me.

Today, I was driving to the office to take care of some paperwork and to organize some things. I was driving normally, not beating on the car or anything, keeping up with traffic (mind you my top speed was 30mph and I drove 5 city blocks total). I pull up to the curb in front of the office, go inside, take care of everything (15 minutes total), and when I come out, all of my coolant had leaked out onto the ground. I pop the hood, look inside, and there are no visible leaks. I'm perplexed, so I hop in, start it up, and start out on my 5 minute drive home. The temperature spiked to 270 degrees when I stopped moving, so I killed the engine until it was time to move again. I got the car home, pull the air intake off, and there's a pinhole in my upper radiator hose. I'm trying to figure out if anything else is wrong with the car, because it doesn't seem to me that a small pinhole in a rubber hose would cause all of my coolant to leak out in a matter of minutes. . .

Any ideas? There are no other visible holes/cracks/leaks in the cooling system.

[93formulalt1]

Had to order the hose from Performance, $30 and it won't be here until tomorrow morning. Should be back on the road by noon tomorrow. (I sleep in on Thursdays. . . lol)

On a better note, I took advantage of my current situation by flushing the cooling system. There was a bunch of crap in there, the coolant was thick and brown. . . Yuck! I flushed it out and I'm hoping that will help keep the engine cool. I've got to check on the electric fans, since the radiator hose was pouring 265* coolant all over the fans.

The car was performing better up until the radiator hose went out, it felt a little stronger in the low end, seemed to turn the tires over a little more easily. Fuel mileage is doing pretty good still, although I'm really waiting for the tank to be empty so I can accurately calculate my average MPG's.

[s.reef]

So the pin hole in the hose was the problem?

[93formulalt1]

So the pin hole in the hose was the problem?

Yeah, there was a small hole in the hose. On closer inspection, it was actually a small crack, but still not large enough that you would think it would be a major problem. Nobody local had the hose in stock, so I ordered it. They said it would be here by 7:30am tomorrow.

I looked the system over after I flushed it out, and there are no other leaks. Nothing out of the ordinary. Now, I just need to track down the oil leak and I'll be all set! Well, I'll be ready to start working on the rest of the items on my "To Do" list. . .

[Derek]

That's the one thing with putting Seafoam in your oil is that it can definitely uncover any problems that were hiding - or any leaks that were about trying to form...

how do ya figure it would uncover problems? in reality it should free up stuff and minimize problems. As far as leaks I can understand, its cleaning all the gunk outa the engine so yea there is a little more chance of leakage.

[MP81]

Well, if something had built up that was "blocking" a problem (For example, valve seals leaking), Seafoam would "uncover" it, and thus, you would realize your valve seals are shit.

[SoulTerror]

I had an undercarriage blast knock my bottom radiator hose loose on my blue Firebird.

[93formulalt1]

Replaced the upper rad hose this morning, no more leak, but I do need to full the radiator up some more. . . I filled it to the top this morning, but I didn't run the car at all, and somehow my "Low Coolant" light came on this afternoon. . . Car runs better, still has a slight miss under light load, but I'm attributing that to the exhaust leak.

Who needs gas mileage anyway? I just got my company car this afternoon. . .

[s.reef]

Glad you got it running again

[93formulalt1]

So am I. I'm getting better mileage now, too. Calculated it today, and so far I'm pulling in a little over 20.5 mpg, mostly city. Still have 3/4 tank of premium left. Should average out to about 20mpg for this tank. Very exciting stuff.

[TSTONE]

what kinda company car did you get?

[my95z28]

So am I. I'm getting better mileage now, too. Calculated it today, and so far I'm pulling in a little over 20.5 mpg, mostly city. Still have 3/4 tank of premium left. Should average out to about 20mpg for this tank. Very exciting stuff.

Wow, is that all that you auto guys get? Not to hang the 6 speed thing over your head, but driving like I did around you guys that one night, thats what I usually average for about 75% city driving. Just one more reason to do the 6 speed swap!

[93formulalt1]

what kinda company car did you get?

For now, I have an '89 Cavalier 4 door sedan. . . I know, sounds like crap. . . But it has 52,000 original miles, and there isn't any rust on it. Runs and drives like brand new. It's in better shape than most newer cars are. Plus, it pulls in about 30mpg city, which helps out doing the school rounds at night.

He's looking into getting a G6 or Cobalt or something like that, but I don't know when that's going to happen. When we get a new car, I'll be driving that for work.

I haven't been getting many hours lately, so this really helps out quite a bit. I'm finally getting about 20 hours a week, I was only getting 3. It will still be a few weeks before my paychecks reflect that, but I can wait. . . lol

[TSTONE]

sounds cool - what are you doing now?

[93formulalt1]

Same thing I've been doing, security work. I sell security systems to home and business owners. I also do rounds of the public schools in my area (about 34 buildings a night, 42 miles/night) and respond to alarm calls at the local schools and car dealerships. It may sound like a lot, but I just started selling alarm systems (starting at $75 installed, anyone in Lenawee/Hillsdale county interested? lol) the other day, and I only do the rounds of the schools one or two nights a week. I get the car on nights I'm doing rounds and any time I'm doing business for the company. It's really a shared car, but the other guys that do rounds have cars that get much better mileage than mine, so they usually use their own vehicles. Truth be told, the Cavalier sits in my driveway more than it stays at the office. . . lol

I'm hoping to get more hours soon, but it's all up in the air. I'm also looking for another job, I'm kind of tired of living at home AND being broke all the time.