1997 Oldsmobile Aurora Head Gaskets

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1997 Oldsmobile Aurora. Has new radiator, new water pump, replaced thermostat. The car was over heating and the low engine coolant message kept displaying. I was refilling it with engine coolant about 3 times a week.

Had a mechanic at a Cadillac dealership look at it for me and he said it might be a bad head gasket or a leak. He gave me those tabs that you put in to seal the leak and it fixed it. Well after about 2 months it started displaying the message again. I was getting ready to take it cross country and didn't want any problems so i made an appointment and took it in. They pressure tested it and said i had a bad water pump. So i had it replaced. The same day i got it back the message came back on. I took it back and they said there was air in the line and they flushed it for me and once again that same day the message came back.

So back to the dealer i went and now it was my radiator that was cracked so i then had that fixed. Also had a full tune up and oil change and the thermostat replaced and i am still having problems. My Aurora is overheating it seems like the hotter it is outside the faster it heats up. Turning on the A/C or the heat doesn't seem to help it and dealership is trying to give me the run a around with it. So i was just wondering if you can think of anything that may be causing it. Thank you.

ANSWER:

Sounds like the classic signs of head gasket problems. This is assuming that the radiator fans are functioning normally. Radiator fans not working will cause an overheat and could also have been the root cause of a head gasket failure since the car may have gotten too hot too many times.

The radiator leaking may have been the result of excessive pressure in the cooling system caused by combustion gases being forced into the cooling system because of bad headgasket. Head gaskets can leak internally or externally. The coolant tablets may have helped for awhile, but that is not a permanent fix.