Purchased a 2008 H3 alpha about eight weeks ago from a dealer in Salt Lake City Utah and had it transported to our home in Naples Florida .... last week the temperature gauge started slowly rising, But never topped out, and there were no warning lights triggered, so we took it to the Chevrolet/GM dealer in town and they replaced the thermostat but still had cooling issues, they now say that a commercial/high-tech anti-leak fluid (Their words, not mine) was put in the system that has clogged the cooling system and the cost for repairs are significant, We have a warranty with alpha systems and have asked the service department to document and photograph appropriately

Here is my question,..... After speaking with various auto repair/dealers I was told that this is a common problem with used vehicles with high mileage, so what are my chances of repairing the engine versus trying to get the warranty company to replace the motor?

Any advice or recommendations will be greatly appreciated, I have owned previous H 2's and H3's without issue, so this has been about as much fun as a positive covid test

Signed,

A very pissed off Floridian

 

What temps are seeing? Im talkibg either IR thermometer or using the obd2
The Alpha cooling system is marginal, GM put a V8 in a vehicle designed around an I5. Here in the gulf, GM was wise enough to add dual pusher fans which were enough to keep the H3 alpha happy, without them the temps would go up and the ac high pressure would climb so much it cuts off the compressor to save it!
From your last sentence im assuming you live in florida, which isnt really a moderate temp state

 

Your first mistake is taking the vehicle to the "dealer" since they charge at the highest possible rate regardless of the skill level of the dudes that work there.

Go to a reputable local repair facility and have them do a cooling flush. If your Temp gauge was pointing to 3/4 or below, you never had any cooling issue, it is like an idiot light with a needle You needed to scan actual temp..

BTW, I have never bought a used vehicle with "clogged cooling system", sounds like they saw your wallet from out in the parking lot.

 

^X2 COOLANT SYSTEM FLUSH FIRST! Then monitor coolant level & add coolant leak tracer dye to find source of leak, then repair. Done!

 

I was going to suggest an inexpensive bluetooth OBD port scan tool / code reader off Amazon with an app that shows you what the temp actually is, versus just the needle.

 

We have had a few V8 h3s. There has been a few issues we have run into that while different for each truck all had same symptoms of over heating:

-Very small crack in radiator so it would not build pressure
-thermostat
-Fan clutch was not staying locked up. This was really hard to diagnose because it would partially lock up but then unlock. Cheap to replace and solved problem

 

And always add 1 and 1/2 biottles of Purple Ice to clean Dexcool!

 

I had a fan clutch "partially" work also. I replaced just about every else then it hit me. Fan clutch dummy!