New member and need advice badly.

[mmschoch]

I love my 03 limited edition but it's dying, and I can't figure it out.

I've owned this car since I bought it online 5 yrs ago and want to fix it myself again before owning a payment.

About a year ago, I was so tired of replacing coolant every other week, then every week...

I bought a Haynes manual when they FINALLY came out for this model and was determined to swap out the gaskets down to the heads because I never found the leak (after backwards flushing and such).

I did that and it didn't help. Unfortunately, when I had it back together, I didn't seat the clamp over the return heater hose. During a trip last Thanksgiving, I punched out of the toll gate and within a mile, the cars heat shot up to the redline and died before I could shut it down.

Since then, I've replaced the water pump, the thermostat, the spark plugs, bled the air pockets out of the engine, and checked about everything I could in the troubleshooting guide.

Now, the car still overheats at idle, but the coolant seems to be running well now. Also, the idle has dropped and is very rough.

Suggestions?

 

[Ibwrong]

Did you replace the head gaskets and LIM gasket?

 

[Zef_66]

GT, SE, or GTP?

 

[Ibwrong]

sorry i ass u med

 

[TorqueAutoMotiv]

sounds like head gaskets to me

 

[mmschoch]

It's supercharged special edition. It looks like I'll be doing all the gaskets again.
It ran great after last time, I just hope I didn't crack a head or the intake.
I found the radiator leaking real slow, but I just don't understand why it would still overheat.

 

[TorqueAutoMotiv]

DO a compression test on it first and see if you can smell exhaust fumes from the radiator when its running

 

[mmschoch]

Ok, I'll give that a shot. Too cold to be in the garage these days, but soon. Thanks bud.

 

[mmschoch]

Hey man, I started tearing it back down yesterday and I noticed the coolant reserve smells like gas. No noticeable discoloration, but heavy gas smell.
Ever heard of that?

 

[TorqueAutoMotiv]

sounds like head gaskets my friend but thats just an opinion... Id have it diagnosed before i tear it apart myself
Unless you feel confident that its the headgaskets

 

[DanGTP]

Definitely sounds like a head gasket issue.

 

[mmschoch]

I was afraid of that. I figured as much since I cooked the hell out of it a couple times. I just hope it's the gasket as opposed to a cracked head.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[TorqueAutoMotiv]

if it ends up being cracked heads just check the for sale section here theres almost always a set for sale

 

[mmschoch]

Right on