Hello. I Need a little bit of help on this one. We recently (30 days ago) changed the water pump in our Olds 88 and had no issues. We haven't noticed any leaks of antifreeze, and the engine has not shown excessive heat on the dash lights, etc. Today, we were driving and noticed that the car seemed to miss a little and had no power... then it died. We started it again and it ran all right, but the engine became increasingly hotter on the dial. It never went into the red zone, but we immediately returned home with the car. Upon checking the coolant levels, we noticed that the radiator was very low. We have never seen a leak, never smelled anything like burning on the engine or in the air ducts, etc. We added coolant into the system (Peak antifreeze that mixes with any color 50/50 predilluted) and let it sit a minute. When we started the car, it ran and then just stopped, after chugging a little bit. We tried to start it again and now it won't crank. I don't know what to do at this point... any ideas?

Stranded in Kansas

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Originally Posted by jackflashh

Hello. I Need a little bit of help on this one. We recently (30 days ago) changed the water pump in our Olds 88 and had no issues. We haven't noticed any leaks of antifreeze, and the engine has not shown excessive heat on the dash lights, etc. Today, we were driving and noticed that the car seemed to miss a little and had no power....then it died. We started it again and it ran alright, but the engine became increasingly hotter on the dial. It never went into the red zone, but we immediately returned home with the car. Upon checking the coolant levels, we noticed that the radiator was very low. We have never seen a leak, never smelled anything like burning on the engine or in the air ducts, etc. We added coolant into the system (Peak antifreeze that mixes with any color 50/50 predilluted) and let it sit a minute. When we started the car, it ran and then just stopped, after chugging a little bit. We tried to start it again and now it won't crank. I don't know what to do at this point............any ideas?

Stranded in Kansas

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I wanted to add to this issue as of today. I towed our car to our mechanic and he said that a faulty intake manifold gasket could be the problem. Although there doesn't appear to be any antifreeze in the oil, that means we may have caught this very early before major engine seizing. He indicated that antifreeze had gotten into the oil and thus would not fire; causing the engine to lock. He said the poorly engineered manifold on the GM cars is a known problem and that ours is not a unique problem. In surfing the web, I notice there is a petition out there for owners of GM cars to sign, trying to force GM to recall cars due to faulty intake manifolds and the repairs associated with this known issue. It is good reading. Needless to say, I have signed the petition. I'm unsure how costly the repairs will be, but I'm hopeful it is much less expensive than a new engine.