Overheat: 2001 Trans Am 62,000 miles.

[jeffhoye]

Hello, I have a 2001 Trans Am that overheats. It has 62,000 miles, manual, 6-speed, WS6, LS1, but seems to be one of the lucky ones with LS6 equipment. I live in Virgina, and my mechanic thinks it needs new head gaskets, but I wonder if it could be something else. Any thoughts as to what else it could be?

History: I've had the car since 2002 (it had 12,000) miles. I've autocrossed it for a few years. The only thing I've done to it is add a Torsen type T2R racing differential and lowered the ratio a bit.

This summer, the water pump failed and leaked out the coolant, but I never let it overheat to the red line. When I got that fixed, I still have overheating: after about 15 mins of driving, the temperature needle goes past 3/4, then I run the heater to cool it back down. The hydrocarbon count in the coolant was 1000ppm.

I've read that the power steering fluid cooler can fail, and leak power steering fluid into the coolant. My mechanic says that's not the problem because there is no foam in the power steering reservoir. I've never let it get all the way to the thermometer red line, definitely never steam coming out of the top, no other signs (or sounds) of head gasket problems. Any ideas? Should I have someone else look at the power steering fluid cooler?

Thanks!
-Jeff

[shady milkman]

it wont foam...check both your coolant and your p.s fluid and see if the p.s looks milky ..if it is..you more than likely had your p.s cooler fail...it is a easy fix..you just have to bypass the cooler and put new fluid in.