My coolant light is always on!! I add some, 2 days later.....on again. Now, yesterday, i noticed a puddle of water under the car near the firewall. What is leaking back there? I have a cracked resivoir and steam was rolling out of it this morning when i parked. No puddle today....so how do I tell if the heater control valve is the problem before sinking more $ into this car? (01 catera)
99% of a chance it's the heather control valve. Just warm up your engine and turn the heater all the way up. Pop the hood and by using a flashlight try to see the valve itself. If it's loosing a reservoir full of coolant everyother day you should be able to see it coming out. BTW it's located right behind the intake manifold in front of the firewall. Approach the car from the passenger side and try to see it among the cables and hoses.
Also, check the engine oil fill hole for gooey stuff, and keep your fingers crossed for not to find any. It is not common in late model Cateras but just make sure. That's an indication of your cooling water is getting in the crankcase if you find that "goop" in the fill hole.
Another point, with your car running, open the reservoir's cap (be carefull when it's hot!!!) and manually rev up the engine. Should you see some bubbles coming out of the reservoir that's an indication of bad head gasgets.
I just dropped my 97 Catera off at the Dealer for a coolant leak. Got a call back its the Hot Water Valve, $400 and its fixed. How much of a pain in the neck is it to replace this valve and can a do it yourselfer do this??
I tried looking all over the net but couldn't find anything out about this valve.
Thanks for all posts, have been able to keep mine out of the garage a bunch with the info here.
i took mine in and they said the fan switch wasn't working so there was too much pressure in the system, they fixed my switch and it works fine, mine also started heating up before i took to get checkd
The valve is only about $85 at the dealer. It is hard to get to but there are access panels you can remove form the passanger side to be able to get to the valve. You might have to disconnect one of the heater hoses to get to it. I would buy the valve at the dealer and take it to a different mechanic. They charged me $50 to replace it.
It really isn't as tuff as it appears to be. I am not saying it is a simple task, but if you are atleast a little mechanically inclined.......you can do it yourself in about an hour, maybe a little more. Here is a good link, with excellent instructions.
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