kkay guys last time i drove the z it was leaking coolant. looked like from the lower radiator hose, but i wasnt to sure cause i pulled over to look and it may have been coming from the radiator. so now that i wasdriving it today(1st time driving it again since)and it got hot again at a stop light. i got to my friends to look at it so when i got there i popped the hood.
i seen that the plastic resovior was over flowing with coolant. this couldhavebeen because the coolant was over full or meybe has somthing to do with the little paper looking ring that was tore up in the cap(the plastic cap)
i thought just that meybe that the coolan was to high or meybe the plastic cap wasnt on good so i started the car up and let it run untill it got hot agian......
this time it didnt leak out of the resovior, but this time there was a lot of dripping under the radiator right in the middle. so i shut the engine off and i herd so much poping and kerdling noise under the radiator cap,it was loud like i thought it was ganna blow off!

my question is can the radiator be clogged or meybe cracked? if it was cracked wouldnt it leak all the time not just when hot? would this cause me to get hott at an idle?
to flush it out i can just put the garden hose in the radiator and open the drain pluglet it flow ?
plz help me this is realy pissing me off

 

The reservoir overflowing does not cause the car to overheat, but the car overheating will cause the reservoir to overflow.
The cooling system is more prone to leaking when the engine is hot because there is more pressure in the sytem.
The radiator could be clogged and depending on what it is clogging it, flushing it may or may not help. IMO, once a radiator is clogged, get a new one. A new stock radiator is less then $200.
My questions to you are:
1) Are the fans running when the car overheats? If the fans are not running at the time, then that is the cause of your trouble.
2) Was the proper filling procedure used, including flushing the air out of the system?

 

first off, thank you so much pete...to answer your Q's
1) the fans run as soon as i start the car and they turn off and on while it's heating up. when it got up into the red a little more, i heard them come on, but it was still in the red when they shut off. before it got hot, they just come on every now and then.i heard them come on one time for litterally two seconds and then they shut back off again.
2) when i put the coolant in (after i drained it) ididn't open the bleeder screws (i forgot) how can that make it leak out from under the radiator?
is there anything you recomend i do?
thanks so much, please try to get back to me today, i'd like to try to get out there and work on it some more before it gets dark.

 

You can try a new ECT sensor (Engine Coolant Temp), loacated on the driver side of water pump, & see if the fans come on sooner (bout $25). If the radiator is leaking try some radiator stop leak, such as BarsLeak. Don't over do it as it will clog the radiator if it is not already clogged. This is not a permanent fix, but it can las t a season. Chances are if you still have the original radiator, it is probably beyond repair and needs replacing. The stock radiator is plenty big, unless you have some big mods done to the engine. Check the sticky on top of this section for when the fans should go on & off.

 

pete you are such a bad ***! i will try the ect first and ill let you know what happens.
should i drain the system again and then put one in or should i put one in to see how it does 1st.
im all about replacing the radiator if its broken, im not for that temporary fix stuff.

 

Just put the new sensor in. Fill the radiator fully, fill reservoir to full mark, bleed air. See if the fans wake up.

 

okay pete i got the part and opened up my chilton manual. the manual shows where it is but says they removed the exhaust manifold to show it. i can find it and i wanted to know if i would have to move the exhaust manifold to get to it?if i do i realy dont wanna do that because my tools are limioted and i wondered what youd think it cost for a tech to do it? (hr wage here is about 70 an hour)

 

I assume you have an LT1 car, since you posted in the LT1 section, The LT1 is a V8. The ECT sensor is mounted on the water pump, there is no exhaust manifold involved, but you may have to remove the air intake elbow if you don't want to go under the car. Otherwise you can get directly to the sensorfrom under the front of the car. A box wrench should do the job.
The PCM reads the sensor and controls the fans according to what the sensor sends it.
This site has a picture from underneath.
http://shbox.com/1/temp_sensor1.jpg

 

o okay i can do that ill rite back when its done . or if i have any more problems

 

okay pete i just put the ect in and refilled the coolant and bled the air out and started it up. it is still getting in the red ("check gauges" light comes on) s im thinking i should just buy the manual turn on fan switch