hey i have an 2003 alero, and ive been noticing some fuuny things going on latley.


First my rad fuild seems to always be low or gone after a couple weeks of me filing it up?? Hope its not mixing with my oil since there are no leaks that i can see.


Secondly, the service engine light came on for about a week then i filled up with gas and it magically disappered and hasent been back since that was about 3 weeks ago.


and now especially when its cold i can now hear the valves clicking when i first start the car 3min later the niose is gone?


With these 3 problems any idea if I have a major or minor problem or any problem at all or whats going on??

 

BUMP!

 

Do you have the V6? I''m gonna say you do because you said your hear the valves clicking.


The first thing I would do is check your oil for coolant. Look at the dipstick, if it looks like a milky color you have coolant in the oil. Second you can look at the bottom of the oil fill cap, look for the same milky color. If you have coolant in the oil 9 times out of 10 it will be the lower intake manifold gasket, if you have the V6.


Or you can have a blown headgasket. Since you said you SES light was on, you could have a blown headgasket causing a misfire. If this is what is happening your coolant is going into the cylinder and then pushed into the exhaust which can destroy the catalytic converter.


I would get the DTC''s read and see why your SES light is on. I know most parts places here in the states do this for free but I have no clue where you would go in Canada.


The ticking sound you hear are the lifter, again this is if you have the v6, and is normal on the 3400 v6.


I forgot to add, you can do a compression test on the cylinders to confirm a blown headgasket.

 

Hey thanks for the input, yeah I do have the v6, the clicking wasn''t there before though so it seems odd, and it only lasts about 1minute or less and sometimes like last night it didnt click at all, and it loud that first minute,seems to weird to be normal i guess or is it??


I checked the oil yesterday it doesnt really seem milky but it hard to tell will it be very noticeable or is it something i really have to concentrate on?


I will check the oil cap to see if theres anything there and ill post it here.

 

Well the noise could be from a lifter/lifters getting stuck because it cold and then frees up once the car starts to warm up and it gets some lubercation.


You should be able to see the coolant on the dipstick. Here is what coolant and oil mixed looks like.





You would have seen it if it looked like this. But that is the color you would see. Here is one of the bottom of the oil cap.

 

Again thanks alot. I checked the oil cap and it looks identical to the one pic above, there is that milky colour there. Well I guess im heading back to gm, i bought extended warranty so i gonna do that monday morning.


Is there major problelms that can happen to the car if drive like that for too long, ive been driving it about 3 weeks like this, i first discovered the low rad fuild 3 weeks ago. and filled up once, now its empty again.


Should i fill up again or just leave it until gm looks at it there is a bit of rad fluid in there enough for the ride anyway?


also does the car need a rad flush and of course an oil change?


Edited by: chunky

 

If its only been like this for a few weeks you''ll be fine. As long as it hasn''t overheated. If it was driven with water in the oil for a long amount of time the bearings would be toast.


I would put water in just to make sure you make it to the dealership without it overheating. One thing I would do is ask the dealership to do a compression test to make sure you don''t have a blown head gasket.


You shouldn''t have to do a rad flush. They will(I would sure hope anyway) but you can ask them to do that too.


After you get the car back from the dealership I would drive it around 160 km( you don''t have to do it all at once) then change the oil agian just to be on the safe side, you don''t want any coolant in the oil.


The one thing I would do after your warranty is up, get rid of the DEX COOL coolant. It is junk and gasket lifetime is cut in half with it. If you do that know though your warranty would be void.

 

Which type of coolant would you recommend?


And it hasent overheated yet lolEdited by: chunky

 

Any of the green stuff that is compatible with aluminum. Just make sure you flush the system before switching, the red and green coolant don''t like each other and tend to sludge up. Even if it says it can be mixed with DEX COOL I would still flush it. Make sure the heater core gets flushed too.


I also forgot to mention, tell them about the ticking sound too. You got the warranty, use the hell out of it. For all I know it could be a collapsed lifter. Could be a broken valve spring, I don''''t know. Just make sure you tell them about it so it gets fixed on their dime.Edited by: rustyballs_69

 

Yeah so its confirmed it was the head gasket causing the internal leak, just got the call back, got a rental 4 now itll be done in a couple of days, and there doing the flushing and oil change. Told him aboutthe ticking he says its when it gets cold its normal, my warranty expires in november so ill keep a close eye on it, and also the ses lightbecause i told him when i put ingas it went away he thinks it was a lose gas cap, he said if its a lose capthey''llcharge me for it. so he said to hold off on it,but i told him toput iton record so if it happens again i wont have topay the deductable.