Greetings...
It's been a while since I've posted about the '93 Sable, but I've been
having a problem lately with the cooling system. It was in for service to
fix some brake issues in a time crunch (I'm doing most of my own service
now) and I knew there was leaking coolant because I could smell it.
However, they suggested that the radiator was leaking and replacing it would
fix the problem. I believe that the radiator isn't extremely old and that
another weird phenominon might be happening due to some other funky things
that are going on with the car cooling-wise.
When starting the car from cold state, it doesn't take real long to warm up, however the heat is still cold when the car is in the NORMAL range. After a while, it gets slightly warm, but the temperature varies in bursts. Finally, it ends up getting decently hot. Before the heater even gets hot, the engine temperature reaches up into the N-O range and usually stays there while fluctuating occasionally to maybe the O-R (city or freeway).
I suspect the thermostat has gone bad (it was replaced with a NAPA one in Summer of '01). When it went bad last time, it had exploded (literally, the spring some metal pieces, the housing and the canister were all separate pieces that were sitting in the engine block)! That was in summer, so it would go to the point of almost overheating (go around the N, cutout the A/C) and then go down a letter or two. I am wondering if the thermostat maybe went bad again? The system does seem to be leaking, but I felt a bit of coolant around the t-stat end of the top radiator hose. The hoses were replaced maybe a year or so before the t-stat. Is there any good way to verify where the leak might be coming from and could low coolant level cause the weird heater issues?
Finally (long winded, I know), I was curious what I might be able to replace suspension wise that would solve some problems I am having. I am not as familiar with things in this neck of the woods. The suspension seems rather loose in steering and handling. This is very different from the two other cars I am used to (my own and my girlfriend's SHOs). Since the cars all basically share the same chassis, I was curious what the story was. My SHO is slightly higher in mileage, but the suspension feel is a world of difference. I know the Sable isn't supposed to be nearly as bad as it is, either. I'm figuring that new shocks/struts/springs might be in order for the Sable. I'm also curious if there are worn out bushings or anything of that sort that I should check for. Both SHOs are getting Aluminum subframe bushings, so I know what that does for the car.
Thanks in advance for any insight that you might be able to provide!!
It's been a while since I've posted about the '93 Sable, but I've been
having a problem lately with the cooling system. It was in for service to
fix some brake issues in a time crunch (I'm doing most of my own service
now) and I knew there was leaking coolant because I could smell it.
However, they suggested that the radiator was leaking and replacing it would
fix the problem. I believe that the radiator isn't extremely old and that
another weird phenominon might be happening due to some other funky things
that are going on with the car cooling-wise.
When starting the car from cold state, it doesn't take real long to warm up, however the heat is still cold when the car is in the NORMAL range. After a while, it gets slightly warm, but the temperature varies in bursts. Finally, it ends up getting decently hot. Before the heater even gets hot, the engine temperature reaches up into the N-O range and usually stays there while fluctuating occasionally to maybe the O-R (city or freeway).
I suspect the thermostat has gone bad (it was replaced with a NAPA one in Summer of '01). When it went bad last time, it had exploded (literally, the spring some metal pieces, the housing and the canister were all separate pieces that were sitting in the engine block)! That was in summer, so it would go to the point of almost overheating (go around the N, cutout the A/C) and then go down a letter or two. I am wondering if the thermostat maybe went bad again? The system does seem to be leaking, but I felt a bit of coolant around the t-stat end of the top radiator hose. The hoses were replaced maybe a year or so before the t-stat. Is there any good way to verify where the leak might be coming from and could low coolant level cause the weird heater issues?
Finally (long winded, I know), I was curious what I might be able to replace suspension wise that would solve some problems I am having. I am not as familiar with things in this neck of the woods. The suspension seems rather loose in steering and handling. This is very different from the two other cars I am used to (my own and my girlfriend's SHOs). Since the cars all basically share the same chassis, I was curious what the story was. My SHO is slightly higher in mileage, but the suspension feel is a world of difference. I know the Sable isn't supposed to be nearly as bad as it is, either. I'm figuring that new shocks/struts/springs might be in order for the Sable. I'm also curious if there are worn out bushings or anything of that sort that I should check for. Both SHOs are getting Aluminum subframe bushings, so I know what that does for the car.
Thanks in advance for any insight that you might be able to provide!!