Was drinking antifreeze now won't start. Help

[96 SSEi]

If she cranks, its not hydrolocked cause water don't compress: it would not turn over with plugs installed. if it clicks upon no start, I would suspect a charging issue: how is battery? Put it on a charger and try to start her

[Redbonne1998]

To rule out that it isn't hydrolocked, you can pull all of the spark plugs out and turn the engine over by hand a few times (or someone can crank it in the car, but any coolant will spray out that's in the cylinders). Usually if it is hydrolocked, the starter will click since it can't overcome the resistance of the water is the cylinders. Hopefully it's not that though

So can I take out the plugs and crank it from in the car myself?

[Redbonne1998]

It does not crank it makes a single quiet click noise once like it wants to crank but cant. I don't have a charger, the battery was new about a year ago but it is from Walmart , and when I did the work I had the negative terminal disconnected for about 4 days and it was about 15 degrees every night maybe it went bad.


If battery and all else tests out , can I pull the plugs and try to crank the coolant out they cylinders by turning the engine with the key?

[96 SSEi]

yes, you may do that but you just want to turn it over for a second or two - borrow a battery if yours tests below 13v you can also get a working car to charge your battery through jumper cables - hook up cables and idle for about half hour that should be enough if the battery charge is low. then try to start

first, check battery - it could be that simple

merry Christmas!!

[Jfridge92]

+1 on checking the battery for a charge. Anytime I do LIM gaskets, I usually pull the plugs and roll the engine over a few times just to make sure no coolant spilled down into the intake ports during the job. It's not too difficult to do, and for the added safety of not bending a rod if it really is hyrdolocked. But usually with something like that, especially this time of year, the battery is a simple answer for what you're describing. And I've gone through 3 walmart batteries within the last 2 years under warranty. 3 out of 3 so far have had a bad cell, I'm on number 4 now but I won't ever be getting one there again once the warranty is up.

[Redbonne1998]

+1 on checking the battery for a charge. Anytime I do LIM gaskets, I usually pull the plugs and roll the engine over a few times just to make sure no coolant spilled down into the intake ports during the job. It's not too difficult to do, and for the added safety of not bending a rod if it really is hyrdolocked. But usually with something like that, especially this time of year, the battery is a simple answer for what you're describing. And I've gone through 3 walmart batteries within the last 2 years under warranty. 3 out of 3 so far have had a bad cell, I'm on number 4 now but I won't ever be getting one there again once the warranty is up.

Do you crank it by hand or key? I might take the battery in I tried testing in but my meter was all over the place not being accurate. Thanks for all the helps brothas

[Redbonne1998]

Finally got to pulling the plugs and cranking the engine. It cranked. When I pulled plugs coolant dripped out of cylinder 6 and dumped out of 1 . Turned on camera and recorded and when I cranked coolant sprayed everywhere from cylinder 1 mostly.

Reaks like gas maybe I should pulled the fuel pump fuse lol. Anyway, plugs are dirty, off to get new plugs and I'm betting that install is twice as fun in the back 3 as the removal hope this works.


SIDE ISSUE : Also saw coolant by the thermostat I replaced , a pool of it , that's where it's coming from I used the paper gasket did I miss something , would like to get that redone before I start circulating coolant again !

[Redbonne1998]

GOT IT RUNNING holy white exhaust lol

I started it and let it run for a min it stayed running sounded good for now. I didn't let it warm up reason being I could see the thermostat bubbling air out so the paper gasket didn't seal it is there suppose to be 2 gaskets or did it not seat proper any help asap would be awasome!!!

[Jfridge92]

For the fueling, if you hold the gas pedal down to the floor when cranking, that disables the injectors without having to pull the fuel pump relay.

If I recall, the thermostat housing at least on my LeSabre didn't use a paper gasket. There was a gasket that was physically part of the new thermostat, but I don't have a gasket on the housing and have 0 leaks and no air in the system. Jack the front up and warm it to temp with the bleeder valve on the thermostat housing cracked open to bleed the air out, then recheck for leaks. I believe the gaskets that come with the thermostat are for the 96 model 3800s, but I could be mistaken there.

But glad to hear you got it running, hopefully once you get the leak sorted and bled out, you can get some miles on it. I'd recommend to run it for a few hundred miles and then change the oil since it hydrolocked. That'll make sure that any coolant that may have dripped to the crank case will get flushed out. After that, drive it a good bit and hopefully you'll luck out with the bottom end staying solid

[Redbonne1998]

Thanks for the help I changed all plugs and wires ,ran to O'Reillys got a 2 dollar gasket that fits the actual thermostat ,ran it til it was hot ,bled the thermostat until it was a straight stream of antifreeze, let it cool, filled the tank back up and took it for a drive. Sounds beautiful so far and that new 180* thermostat runs the engine alot cooler gotta get use to that.

I will be changing oil I put in cheap oil with super nice filter so all I have to do is the oil. I prefer full synthetic any way. Thanks guys!

[Jfridge92]

Glad to hear everything is back together The 180 will help a little with the temps, but you'll need a tune to adjust the fans to turn on at 180 instead of 195 like they're programmed. In the cool months you'll probably see slightly lower operating temps, but in the summer you'll see the same Temps unless the fans are adjusted. I got an Intense tune about 6 months after doing my UIM and LIM gaskets, and that's what I noticed with the 180 tsat I installed. Once I got the tune, it usually doesn't run any hotter than 190-195

[Redbonne1998]

Came out to take it to the store and it was cranking but it really didn't wanna start this time i had to press the gas a little while it cranked to get it to start, it started nicely earlier. Any ideas? Also if I press the gas in while in park it stays high revved even when I let off and it will even increase throttle itself any ideas?

[96 SSEi]

Came out to take it to the store and it was cranking but it really didn't wanna start this time i had to press the gas a little while it cranked to get it to start, it started nicely earlier. Any ideas? Also if I press the gas in while in park it stays high revved even when I let off and it will even increase throttle itself any ideas?

glad you got her fired- for the throttle issue, a T-body cleaning may help that- wont hurt

[Jfridge92]

I'd start by checking for vacuum leaks. You can use carb cleaner to spray all of the vacuum lines, fuel injector o rings, UIM gasket, and throttle body gaskets, as well as the egr tube that goes into the LIM. Try to do this on a cold engine though, or be very careful if the motor is hot. If you find a spot that the Idle changes when you spray, you've found a leak.


My dad's PAU did that after we finished the lim gaskets and supercharger gaskets. It turned out to be a bad throttle position sensor, but it threw a code for it about 5 minutes after we got the system bled.

[Redbonne1998]

Right on I pushed all the vacation lines and checked a few things seems to be resolved now.

Now the cooling fans are constantly running though from when I start the car until I turn it off. It's 32 out lol.

The temp gauge is working though so I'm guessing it's not the coolant temp sensor under the thermostat but I'm not sure ? Any ideas? I'm not really too concerned because it doesn't hurt anything but wouldn't mind correcting it. Thank for the help every one


Edit : the speeding up and high revving itself has resolved , but every now and then it's hard to start and will start once I crank and press gas down. But it's only happened twice and it's been pretty cold. 80 miles on it since I did the uim and LIM so maybe that will work itself out

[Redbonne1998]

UPDATE : Snagged a scanner so scanned and I had 3 codes, one was a bad tps and the other 2 were coolant temperature sensor codes ,so i erased them and went for a drive and check engine came on again . Hooked up the scanner same codes, started it and Live data was reading coolant temp at -32 degrees when engine was warm lol . Am I missing something here

On the plus side tps for these cars are really cheap!

Guess I'll be draining the coolant again to replace the coolant sensor. But happy to say after 200 miles those are the only codes

[96 SSEi]

hi, you can try unplugging the coolant temp sensor and check plug for debris - also check all 3 wires for damage If I remember correctly, one controls the always on fail-safe- check for damage please