Strange noise - '94 Shadow

Hey guys,

Since getting this Shadow a few months ago, I have installed a new fuel pump, put new brake shoes on the rear and rebuilt the wheel cylinders. It has been running decently. Not great, but decently. I have a very rough idle when it's cold, not an over abundance of power in the hills, and now a strange whining when turning off the engine. It is a low growl type noise - almost like something winding down if you know what I mean??? The noise is short in duration.. perhaps 2 seconds, and it doesn't do it every time I turn the car off.

Tonight I picked up a thermostat because the heat seems to be not what it should be in the car. But, now I am wondering if the noise I am hearing could be water pump bearings getting ready to fail. I am also noting the temperage gauge fluctuating quite quickly up and down.

Any thoughts?

Jackie

Hey Jackie, long time on see (on this forum, this can be a good thing):

I forgot, what size engine do you have, 2.2L, 2.5L, or 3.0L V6?

A fluctuating temperature gauge can indicate a variety of conditions. Let me know exactly what the gauge is doing and when, then I can better understand what is happening.

The whining/groaning/growling sound could be any one of the belt-driven rotating elements (water pump, power steering pump, alternator, A/C compressor). With the hood up and the engine running, listen carefully and see if your two ears can direct you to the sound. If that doesn't work, you might have to remove each belt, one at a time, and see if the sound goes away and when. Or you could get a long, small diameter rubber hose, using it as a stethoscope to listen for unusual noise with the engine running. Be sure not to get any part of your body near the spinning pulleys and belts.

The fact that it doesn't happen all the time points me to the Air Conditioning (A/C) compressor. In case you didn't know, the A/C compressor operates when the Defroster button is pushed, even with the A/C button off. Try listening for the noise with the A/C and Defroster off, the A/C on alone and the Defroster on alone. Please disregard if you don't have Air Conditioning.

Start here and let us know what you find.

The engine is a 2.5 non turbo (It's the ES Model Shadow)

Today I replaced the thermostat. That changed nothing, and I still don't have an over abundance of heat. I paid special attention to the gauge so I could relay the results to you. With the car idling in the driveway, the gauge is reading about half way between cold and hot. When I either drive the car or idle it up, the gauge falls to about the 1/8th towards the cold. Either reading... the air from the heater is warm, but NOT hot.

When starting the car, I kept checking the radiator hoses. Of course, when the thermostat opened, the top hose got hot, but I didn't feel any warmth in the lower hose until I drove the car a long distance. Then, I STILL didn't have a lot of heat from the heater. What's going on here? Do you think my radiator is clogged up, or the heater core? Radiator hose collapsing? I'm going to need a whole lotta heat here in my neck of the woods soon! LOL!

Now, re: the whining/growling/moaning noise:
One of the 1st things I did to this car when I got it was to remove the a/c compressor, so it's not that making the weird sound. I don't hear the noise while the car is running... just when I shut the car off. It's kind of like the car is saying "AAAaaaahhhhhh... I can just sit here in my snug garage again!" LOL!

Oh, somehing else I did to the car last week was replace the valve cover gasket. The leak has stopped!

(Yesterday the little bugger turned over 90,000!)

I just took the car for a little ride. I drove it approximately 6 miles. While driving 55 and 60mph the temperature gauge was at 1/2 and the heater air was warm...NOT hot. I slowed down on my road to about 25 mph and the gauge went down to 1/8th (COLD) and the air from the heater was blowing cold air. Earlier today, the car sat idling in the driveway.. temp gauge read 1/2, but driving it UP the hill near my house the temp gauge dropped down to 1/8th. Why is this reading so erratic? All I want is some HEAT in the car!!!

any ideas????
Jackie

I just took the car for a little ride. I drove it approximately 6 miles. While driving 55 and 60mph the temperature gauge was at 1/2 and the heater air was warm...NOT hot. I slowed down on my road to about 25 mph and the gauge went down to 1/8th (COLD) and the air from the heater was blowing cold air. Earlier today, the car sat idling in the driveway.. temp gauge read 1/2, but driving it UP the hill near my house the temp gauge dropped down to 1/8th. Why is this reading so erratic? All I want is some HEAT in the car!!!

any ideas????
Jackie

I now know what that noise is!!!!!

It's the cooling fan winding down when I turn the car off. But, my question is: should this fan be running when it does? Does anyone know at what temperature the cooling fan should start at? It seems to me that the car wasn't run long enough to get hot enough to cause the fan to run. In fact, the temperage gauge wasn't even up to the half way mark when it kicked on.

I'm SOOOOO confused, and all I want is HEAT in the car!!!!!!
Jackie :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Hi Jackie:

Glad to see you found the underhood noise. This may or may not be the problem.

Earlier you stated that you got a new "thermostat". What type of thermostat did you get?!? I want to be sure we are talking about the same thing.

The reaction of your temperature gauge indicates (to me anyway) that you have a bad thermostat, or should I say, a thermostat that is opening at a lower temperture that it should, or maybe just stuck open all the time. Now when I say thermostat, I am talking about the round disc shaped object that is installed inside the housing where your upper radiator hose attaches to the engine. This thermostat must be rated at 195 degrees F for the coolant to get hot enough to heat the interior of your car and for the emission controls and fuel injection to work correctly. Replacement of this thermostat requires draining the coolant, unbolting the two bolts holding this housing to the engine block, installing a new thermostat and gasket, bolting back up and refilling the cooling system.

Now, is this the thermostat you replaced, or did you replace something else, like a temperature sensor or temperature switch?

This should get you going in the right direction. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Yes, it was indeed a thermostat. In fact it was a 195 degree Staat, and yes, I did istall it the right way. LOL! :iceslolan

I drove the car to town today (70 miles round trip) and it never once got above the first hatch mark on the temperature gauge. Go figure! The heater threw warm air, not hot air. It seems as though the car just isn't warming up for some reason. Could it be that the fan is running too much? I'm thinking about replacing the coolant temperature sensor. Does this sensor run the fan and the temperature gauge in the dash?

I'm just about ready to tie a piece of carboard in front of the radiator for the winter! It gets awfully cold here in the Adirondack Mtns and I'm going to need some serious heat in the car soon! :banghead:

Thanks,
jackie

Well, I'm glad to know we are both talking about the same thermostat. Most of the time you can assume that other people know what your talking about, but I have run into the occasional "miscommunication" that leaves us all scratching our heads.

At this point, you either have a fan that stays on all the time, overcooling the radiator, or your new thermostat is defective (it can happen) or both. The fan should be controlled by a thermo-switch and a relay. Check those out when you have time. I'm not sure how they are configured in the Shadow since mine has never given me a problem.

Now, I know what it is like to have a thermostat fail in the open position. Two years ago that happened on my Shadow. I didn't notice this until the day it was 30 F on a December morning here in sunny California, near San Francisco. The temp gauge only went 1/8 of the way up cruising at 70 mph, topping off at 1/4 sitting at a stop light. I froze that day. I even got a check engine light, with a low coolant temp code on the computer.

Anyway, good luck with the diagnosis.

Hey Jackie, if your cooling fan is running all the time,you may have a coolant temp.sensor that has failed,& caused an open circuit, this will cause the engine controller to initiate a failsafe procedure,& run the cooling fan all the time,to help keep the engine from overheating. you will find the sensor in the same housing as the thermostat,on the side, make sure the wires are not damaged, one way to test this theory is to unplug it with thengine running ,and connect the two terminals in the plug with a paper clip and see if it shuts off,if so I would try a sensor,please use a mopar factory part,as aftermarket sensors are often faulty and unreliable,also make sure that you don't have an air pocket in the top of the head, remove the pipe plug on top of the thermostat housing & make sure coolant comes out to make sure there is no air in it. Martola

Hi Martola,

The fan doesn't run constantly, but it does run often. I, too, am thinking that this is the culprit leading to my lack of heat in the car. However, I thought it was the relay that ran the fan at the proper temperature. Or, does the relay work in conjunction with the coolant temperature sensor????

TIA,
Jackie