1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup
What is going on???!!!
Here's the scenario:
Car overheated unexpectedly and without warning 2 weeks ago. I replaced the t-stat and coolant this passed weekend. Coolant that came out was crystal-clean. Flushed out the system, put everything back together, and all seemed okay for the last 2 days of use.
I got a phone call this morning from my very distraught wife (who is using my car since her's is in the shop), informing me that the car was "smoking". This happened as she parked the car in the lot of a store, and had just turned it off. It turned out to be the upper rad hose had an enormous split in it at the t-stat housing end. I left work and picked up a hose from the dealer and drove over to the lot to fix it and get her back on her way (nothing like swapping my suit and tie for grungy clothes and back again in the middle of the day...). As I removed the old hose, fluid spilled out of it and it was a mixture of ATF and coolant. I looked at the coolant reservoir and could see pink all around the underside of the cap. I removed the tranny dipstick, but could not see any signs of mixture on the stick. It appears the internal damage to the radiator must have just occurred and the car was not running long enough for the mixture to reach the tranny. Or, if it did, was not in the tranny long enough. I any event, I had the car towed to my home to await this weekend for repair.
I understand I need to replace my radiator (no big deal), and I have to flush and re-fill the coolant (what a waste of Saab coolant that I just bought 3 days ago), and I should flush out the tranny.
Questions: What happened? How could the rad hose had split at the same moment that ATF was mixing with coolant? Was this mixture keeping the t-stat from opening and caused too much pressure in the cooling system? And why did the radiator break down at such an early life (75K)? Does any of this have to do with the initial overheating issue from 2 weeks ago?
I am going to search the archives and get all the info I need to swap the rad, and flush/re-fill both cooling and ATF systems. If anyone has any specific tips to pass along, please do.
Are the rad's from eEuroparts the best route to go? Should I flush the cooling system with Prestone cleaner since there's now ATF in it (I used pure water the last time)?
Joe
'98 75K
'93 900TC 128K
posted by 12.111.48...
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
