I bought this car in February from someone who had reported it would constantly overheat. My dad deduced it was just a problem with the water pump, so we got the price dropped and fixed it ourselves. It drove well until one night, the hose busted. No big deal, I thought, and put a new hose on there. From then on, it would leak antifreeze (not much), and constantly smoke from the antifreeze burning off the engine. Just a couple days I ago, I had someone look at it, and they realized I hadn't put the hose on there properly, and that was why (that's what I figured, the hose constantly had a green ring around it from where it leaked).

I thought it was fixed, but now the antifreeze leak is worse than ever. It's rarely been enough to leak onto the ground, mostly just landing on the engine and burning off, but it gets really hot because of this.

Could it still be a problem with the hose? Or could it be something else, possibly as a result of driving for so long with it leaking antifreeze? I'm supposed to drive to Illinois on Saturday, and I'd like to get this fixed as quickly, and as cheaply, as possible.

Jeremy, April 2006

Well, Jeremy,
I had a 93 Chevy Cavalier that acted just like your car. I changed hoses,waterpump, cleaned the radiator
you name it I changed it, and ever time I'd go to town
the car would get hot and wouldn't start until it cooled down. Finally it wouldn't even start then. Finally I found out what I didn't really want to know. The head had a crack in it, and the block was cracked. Those heads are aluminum and when they overheat for very long it either warps the heads or cracks the block. I hope this isn't the case with your car, but have you checked for these problems?

Mary Norris, April 2006