bgt421
11-13-2006, 11:46 PM
I may just be paranoid, but how bad does this sound?
I just rounded the 115k mark in my 2001 GAGT, when driving back to school I blew a 1cm hole in one of my radiator hoses. I managed to strech the hose back on past the leak, but I had to mix garden variety coolant with my dexcool, because that was all the corner store in Nowhere, MS had. Having been told never to do this, I went that week(two weeks and 900 mi ago), to get a coolant flush that was probably due anyway, only to be told that I have the infamous LIM leak. The tech at the GM dealership said I would be fine for a while, and that highway driving and such would be kosher until the problem got worse, and I would know when that was.
I spent most of this weekend on the road for 500 miles total, spread out over friday through monday, and I drove in this morning about 180mi with no problems whatsoever, arriving at about 8:30am. I went to start my car this afternoon(4:45) for an errand and noticed that the idle wasn't smooth like usual; the tone and rpm oscillated, and at first the tach was reading about 1.5k(usually 900 at idle), but then it dropped down to normal. Sometimes upon starting there's a brief "high idle" period of <60secs; this lasted minutes. When I got back in my car to leave an hour later, my GA didn't start. It turned over, even acted like it was getting fuel, but was "rough" then died. A second attempt got it to start, but with the same rough idle problems as before. I've had some non-starts every once in a while(where the starter's turning but the engine isn't engaging) but usually a second bump on the ignition starts it right up. I've never had this kind of pseudo/rough start before.
The idle is cyclical, and standing away sounds normal, until one is under the hood, in the car, or listening to the exhaust, all of which are rough. In the driver's seat I can even feel a slight vibration. Is this a result of the LIM, or is it a fuel problem somewhere else? Worse, could I have coolant leaking into my cylinders like the GM tech said could happen? Or, perhaps is it just miles on an American vehicle?
...or am I just freaking out due to my horrible luck with vehicles?
Thanks...
I just rounded the 115k mark in my 2001 GAGT, when driving back to school I blew a 1cm hole in one of my radiator hoses. I managed to strech the hose back on past the leak, but I had to mix garden variety coolant with my dexcool, because that was all the corner store in Nowhere, MS had. Having been told never to do this, I went that week(two weeks and 900 mi ago), to get a coolant flush that was probably due anyway, only to be told that I have the infamous LIM leak. The tech at the GM dealership said I would be fine for a while, and that highway driving and such would be kosher until the problem got worse, and I would know when that was.
I spent most of this weekend on the road for 500 miles total, spread out over friday through monday, and I drove in this morning about 180mi with no problems whatsoever, arriving at about 8:30am. I went to start my car this afternoon(4:45) for an errand and noticed that the idle wasn't smooth like usual; the tone and rpm oscillated, and at first the tach was reading about 1.5k(usually 900 at idle), but then it dropped down to normal. Sometimes upon starting there's a brief "high idle" period of <60secs; this lasted minutes. When I got back in my car to leave an hour later, my GA didn't start. It turned over, even acted like it was getting fuel, but was "rough" then died. A second attempt got it to start, but with the same rough idle problems as before. I've had some non-starts every once in a while(where the starter's turning but the engine isn't engaging) but usually a second bump on the ignition starts it right up. I've never had this kind of pseudo/rough start before.
The idle is cyclical, and standing away sounds normal, until one is under the hood, in the car, or listening to the exhaust, all of which are rough. In the driver's seat I can even feel a slight vibration. Is this a result of the LIM, or is it a fuel problem somewhere else? Worse, could I have coolant leaking into my cylinders like the GM tech said could happen? Or, perhaps is it just miles on an American vehicle?
...or am I just freaking out due to my horrible luck with vehicles?
Thanks...