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It's my wife's 2003 9-5. It has only 33K miles. She doesn't drive much and we don't do frequent long distance trip either. We took the car on a trip from North Jersey to MA to pick up our daughter at camp (South Hadley, MA). The car was fine going up and coming back. I topped up the coolant tank before we left; fluid level was just a bit below the filled mark. Weather was warm but not in the 90s hot. The AC was on all the time and highway speed of 70 to 80 all the way up and spurts to match the interstate number (I-91) on open stretches.
The next day back at home, I noted slight coolant smell but thought nothing of it. Then we used the car for a couple of short trips, then garaged. I saw fluid underneath the car, a bit more than usual, thinking it was water from the AC and again thought nothing of it.
The next day drove the car to the town library, and on the return trip, noticed SID message on low coolant and I thought hmm........ the temperature gage read normal. Arrived home, saw the usual fluid on the ground, again thought it was from the AC. Opened the hood, noted coolant reservoir empty and coolant smell filled the air. Uh-oh...I was surprised the SID didn't sound a warning chime.
Wife wanted to use the car on Monday for a short in-town trip, so I filled the coolant reservoir up with water and told her not to use the AC and note the SID. The car came back with the coolant reservoir empty again. The coolant bypass valve is right at the bottom of the coolant reservoir so I guess anything above the valve would leak out.
I went through the usual posts here for coolant bypass valve replacement, big thanks to all who posted, pictures and all then downloaded thesaabsite's instructions for reference.
My usual commute passes by a Cadillac dealer, so in the morning I took the coolant bypass valve GM part number and went straight for Parts. The parts person appeared surprised to learn I had a GM part number and kept mumbling...."you actually have a part number..". Hmm..maybe Caddy owners don't do that sort of things. It's a Hummer dealer as well, so I let you draw your conclusion. The parts guy came back with the right part and proceeded to charge me $87 + tax. The list on the part was $97 or so he gave me a discount too! I thought it's a reasonable price as eEuropart charges $74 or last time I checked. So I paid for the part and thanked the guy. Along the way I walked past a nice Cadillac STS-V. Not a bad looking car, but I don't think it's worth the price, maybe a used one in a few years 8-).
On my way home, I passed by Sears and picked up a hose clamp pliers as suggested by some here. It's not cheap at $40 + tax. It turned out to be an excellent tool for the job.
I followed the posted instructions, together with a few torn latex gloves, some minor scratched on both arms, the usual expletives in getting the hose clamps and hoses disconnected, I finished the job. It took about an hour plus my learning to use the hose clamp pliers and squinting at pictures in the downloaded instructions.
The hose clamp pliers definitely worth the investment (see link below). It makes moving a hose clamp a snap and it actually holds the clamp open until you release the lock on the pliers. It beats using a pair of regular or locking pliers. The cable allows it to be used in tight spaces too, ** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED**.
posted by 12.171.1...
, Thu, 19 Jul 2007 16:23:22, Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:14:18
, Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:28:47
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