Over heating

Asked by Zt2008 Feb 25, 2016 at 12:19 PM about the 2008 Chevrolet Express

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 2008 Chevy express van 5.3 vortex engine.
About this time last year I replaced the water pump
and put a new thermostat in twice. Well it started
running hot again two weeks ago. I replaced the
thermostat and it did ok for a few days and then
started over heating again. This time I checked the
water and it was low I added water and it seemed
to be fine. Drove it over the next few days no
problem. Now it's overheating again. I took the
thermostat completely out this time and trying it
without one. I drove it down the road a couple
miles and the computer screen says engine. Only
this time it's not boiling over and It didn't reduce
power like it did before. So my ? Is...is it OK to run
it like this and is it saying engine hot because it's
not registering because of the thermostat being
out or what? I realize the heater will not work like
normal with it out. But I'm just making sure it's OK
and I'm not about to ruin my motor. Thanks for any
help.

4 Answers

560

Howdy, does your engine have an electric cooling fan or just mechanical? Could be clutch or a bad relay on fan. Hope this helps.

560

Ok, the only way I know to test the clutch w/o replacing it was using a very HEAVY&LONG piece of folded cardboard, introducing it very SLOWLY...into the path of the fan. If it stops...it's bad....that said, clutches can't be that expensive NOT TO BE RISKY.....and try that. Hopes it helps...DISCLAIMER>>> of course.. JUST A SUGGESTION! Hope you get it figured out...good luck!

Since I took the thermostat out it hasn't overheated again. And my temp gauge isn't working either. Ive been driving it every where today. It's saying engine hot. But I figured it out. I let it sit 3 hours got in cranked it and right away it said engine hot. So I'm going to leave the thermostat out until it gets hot weather.

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