Mods are on hold.......

[YELLR1LE]

I was planning on either doing a big cam or a magnacharger this spring on my LS3 SS but i couldn't decide which way i wanted to go. At the same time I live in the city and work in the city so I was really thinking I should have bought an automatic Camaro. It turns out I have been searching around on the internet for the past few months looking for an automatic toy to have the best of both worlds. I ended up buying a 2002 35th Anniversary SS today. I got a really good price on it and it only has 38k miles on it. I may have to hit up showstopper to get the nose repainted/restriped but otherwise the body and interior are in great condition. mechanically it is also very sound and trans shifts great. after i got it home i did notice the smell of a coolant leak but could not see anything. i'll have to keep looking.
2002 camaro.JPG

2002 camaro2.JPG

So as of right now all my planned mods for the 2010 are on hold since I bought the '02. I want to get a few small things done before I attend the camaro fest in Indy in August but we will see how it goes. My wife and I might do the hot rod power tour in the '02 in June if everything goes well.

[YELLR1LE]

any members ever have/still have a 4th gen? are they prone to coolant leaks in any particualer area?
i had a '96 SS and a 2000 SS and remember having them but not all the details since i owned them so long ago.

[Lawdog]

Good for you! Nice find, enjoy playing around with that !

[Lawdog]

If u don't see it right away on the garage floor my guess would be radiator lark between the fins somewhere

[Toasty]

So long as you don't smell it IN the car/vents. (that would spell heater core) keep an eye on the wsterpump looking for moisture around heater hose pipes, the o-ring seals could be leaking some... But it sure looks sweet!

[Lawdog]

There's a weep hole on the bottom of the water pump, if it's leaking there you will should see it if you break out the flashlight and look.

[YELLR1LE]

thanks lawdog and toast. i put about 150 miles on the car today driving it back to chicago. i'll keep a close watch on things. i bought it to drive it. it will be my "city" summer car. i figure i can put at least 30 to 40k miles on it and still get a good return on it when i sell it.

[DarkSS]

any members ever have/still have a 4th gen? are they prone to coolant leaks in any particualer area?
i had a '96 SS and a 2000 SS and remember having them but not all the details since i owned them so long ago.

The Dex cool that originally came in those cars are notorious for causing problems. The car is old enough that it could be causing some blockages. Best thing to do is flush the radiator with water and run a cooling system cleaner through it. Prestone makes a kit. After that fill it back up with either yellow prestone coolant or a 50/50 mix of the green stuff and see what happens. I had a similar problem that was solved by a flush on my 96.

[YELLR1LE]

The Dex cool that originally came in those cars are notorious for causing problems. The car is old enough that it could be causing some blockages. Best thing to do is flush the radiator with water and run a cooling system cleaner through it. Prestone makes a kit. After that fill it back up with either yellow prestone coolant or a 50/50 mix of the green stuff and see what happens. I had a similar problem that was solved by a flush on my 96.

thanks darkss. i will do the flush. i had planned on changing all the other fluids anyway just to be safe with a "new" used car.

[Toasty]

The Dex cool that originally came in those cars are notorious for causing problems. The car is old enough that it could be causing some blockages. Best thing to do is flush the radiator with water and run a cooling system cleaner through it. Prestone makes a kit. After that fill it back up with either yellow prestone coolant or a 50/50 mix of the green stuff and see what happens. I had a similar problem that was solved by a flush on my 96.

The original DEXCool formulation from 95/96 had known issues, but they did reformulate it shortly thereafter... (not to mention some people putting in the green with the DEX, a BAD combo)

Though, a car of that age, with that few miles, not a bad idea to flush, but so long as it's done correctly, I don't see any reason to not put the DexCool/long life generic stuff back in it.

Probably the first step is to get the engine bay clean, if it is not already... hard to spot any kind of trace of liquid, if it's covered by dirt. It's entirely possible that if there is a leak, it could be small enough to evaporate by the time you turn the car off...

[Bubbles]

Just FYI for everyone here running ANY version of dex-cool around the 4-5 year mark it turns acidic regardless of mileage.... So make sure you get it changed prior to that. I know some of us have cars made in 2009 that should start thinking about getting it change out soon

[FreakyFastFreddie]

Nice addition to the family! Enjoy!

[Dark Knight]

U got rid of the black 5th gen?

[KYSMYSS]

any members ever have/still have a 4th gen? are they prone to coolant leaks in any particualer area?
i had a '96 SS and a 2000 SS and remember having them but not all the details since i owned them so long ago.

Steve at Countryside Customs (one of sponsors) has that same Camaro. He could you everything you probably want to know and paint it too.

[greennv]

Head gasket seapage or intake seapage can happen on those when the car is sitting for very long periods of time. Do all of the things you were planning on doing and drive it. Then check it again