Okay I bought a used 2001 Camaro V6 back in April. I drove it for a little while with no issues what so ever. Then it started over heating. When I checked the Radiator, there was old junky oil all in it. Well being the idiot I am, I just added more water and watched how much I drove it. Well months later my husband had to start driving it to work due to his truck throwing a rod. The more he drove it the more we noticed it overheating more often.

Then it started backing up and overheating. Smoke coming off the motor. Well we found out that the CC was blocked 100%. Well we are temporarily by passing the CC until we get the money for a new CC and can afford to have it replaced (As well as some of the exhaust pipe) by a mechanic. We thought maybe after bypassing the CC our issue would be solved. Well we forgot all about the radiator.

Which was empty!!!!! No wonder the poor car was overheating! I am damn lucky I didn't ruin my engine. So while filling the Radiator back up we cranked the car to get the water to circulate ... well instead of circulating it back up and while Idling the temp gauge got up to 210. Well Right before I turned off the car for heating up so fast during an idle, the water started to circulate. So I believe the radiator is clogged. I want to flush it out and clean it and see what happens.

I don't believe there is a cracked head or anything since I don't have any water in my oil... Just old junky oil. Which could mean at one point it did have a cracked head or something and leaked oil and no one flushed it out.

So Any ideas on how to do this?

Oh I want to add that I tried turning the valve to let the water drain from the radiator ... But despite me adding water to it, nothing came out. Am I doing something wrong??

I just want to drive my car again D:

 

The "oil" was probably the dexcool coolant, it has a tendency to sludge up. What's a CC? As for the radiator just pull it and flush water through the top and out the bottom for like 15 min, than pull the thermostat and flush water through the engine for like 15 min. Also pull the heater core lines and flush that both ways. Also if it were my car is do a compression test on the cylinders to make sure there was no damage done to the heads/block.

 

CC= Catalytic Converter

And I didn't think about it being the coolant. Its just so junky and black and hard to get off my hands I just thought It was oil.

 

I condensed the story to make the important parts (in bold) easier to follow....
Your radiator had/has gunk in it. That could have been the sludged up coolant, could also be a previous owner had a coolant leak and "fixed" it with some of that brown molasses like Bars Leak crud.
You added water to the radiator, which brought the level back up. But now, it's empty again.
After filling again, the water finally started to circulate because the thermostat decided to open. You'd want to replace the stat while you're at it since it could be faulty.
You have something possibly serious going on, as coolant doesn't just "disappear" from inside the system. If water is disappearing on you, and you don't have an external leak, then the engine is drinking it (blown gasket).
And hope that if there was a previous problem, the person did drain the oil pan, or you could have some damaged bearings.
Not trying to scare you, just make you cautious. You may have lucked out this far, and not have any engine damage, but I wouldn't press it any further.

 

I've ruled out a blown gasket. Not that you are trying to scare me. I have changed my oil since getting the car and there is no water in my oil as of today. Also I don't know where you got that the water I have placed in my radiator is just 'vanishing'. Especially since I noted that when I started the car the water I put in the motor actually backed up for about 5 minutes or so until it finally started to circulate. Which leads me to believe there is a clog some where. I don't think the pump is going out. And there isn't a leak in the radiator since we ran the car to circulate the water and I did not see any dripping aside from what was from the hose.

 

From this:
"I just added more water and watched how much I drove it.....
The more he drove it the more we noticed it overheating more often....
Well we forgot all about the radiator.
Which was empty!!!!! "

So the radiator got filled, then it was empty again later. Where did the coolant go?
Also, you can have a bad gasket where the engine will be "burning" the coolant, and not getting into the oil.
That would show as steam out the tailpipe, if it's a sizable leak. If you have a small leak, you may not notice any steam.

 

I wasn't using coolant at the time. I was only using water and my dumb *** didn't think about it burning off. That's where it went.

 

Why do you think no water in the oil means no blown head gasket?? Most of the time when Coolant gets into oil it is because of the INTAKE gasket. It is Very rare for a head gasket to cause coolant in the oil. Infact if coolant get into your oil and you drive the car the motor would be roached in just a few miles. Oil in the coolant is an issue on a overhead CAM engines but our motors do not have pressurized oil flowing thru them just coolant.

Everything you have posted is hinting at a head gasket. You should borrow a coolant pressure tester for a chain parts store like Autozone. Search Youtube for "CHeck headgasket with a pressure test" for how to videos

 

First some great advice from some fellow Camaro owners. I would seriously look into spending some money to have it professionaly diagnosed.

My 97 RS had some serious issues when I bought it. I wont get into details but I will say that some of your water might have boiled off but where could the rest of it have gone?

Have you drained your oil yet to see if all you have in there is oil? 3800 Series II motors have issues with those pesky lower intake manifold (LIM) gaskets, they fail! When they fail coolant (water) can make its way into the motor and that can spell disastor. Such was the case of my car.

Also you might want to ensure your hoses that lead to the heater core arent plugged and your little plastic elbow/hose is still intact and sending coolant into the intake manifold. If you catch it in time with those LIM you can save your motor, if you have coolant (specially dexcool) in the oil it will destroy the bearings and result in a very noticable knock. These motors are bullet proof, but need some TLC/preventatitve maintenance to keep them on the road.

Take some advice from those guys about the headgasket too, rarely do they fail on these motors but it is always possible.

 

many people add coolant to the coolant reservoir thinking it will fill the radiator which it will not. if the coolant level gets to low the temp sensor will not have coolant running by it so it does not give a good reading, usually shows cold temp. once coolant is added the sensor will work sending the temp gauge up to whatever the coolant temp is. also if the coolant level is way low and the motor is heated then as you add coolant it will boil when making contact with hot metal sending a geyser up. it would be a good idea to do a compression test on all cylinders. as gorn sayin you can rent or borrow a compression tester with deposit at most parts stores.