Hrm...I wouldn't be so quick to eliminate a coolant leak. Miles/Years of gunk on the engine, combined with dripping brown (dexcool turns brown after a bit of air exposure) coolant can yield a very oily coolant leak. Especially if you're having overheating issues that are affected by venting. If the leak is that small, and your oil is ok, I would say go ahead and do the flush.

I was having overheating issues myself, about a year after a thermostat replacement. I was also having a no-heat condition..only cool air blowing. Turns out my heater core was a little clogged from dexcool sludging in the hoses. A flush brought out quite a few chunks. After refilling with coolant and replacing the thermostat again, I have no overheating issues, and fully functioning heat/cold.

The best way to do a flush is to get a Prestone flush kit. The other problem with non-kit flushing, is that I believe in 2001, GM did away with the drain plug! So with a flush kit, you install a T piece in one of the hoses at the top of the engine, and then just connect your garden hose. Then it comes with a drain spout that snaps into your radiator cap opening. Then just turn on the hose and let it flush


The flush piece.

 

You know Wolf, I am glad you left this comment.

For the life of me, I could not FIND the drain plug. So I imagine I can pick up that flush kit at any auto parts store? Sounds easy enough even for me to do.

Yea, I am thinking that it could be coolant after all, it DID have a sweet smell to it. I'm pretty sure oil doesn't smell sweet.

Thanks for the advice

 

Yep! I got mine at Advance Auto for like $7.99. And you don't need to buy any coolant flush liquid...the water pressure works fine for both of my flushes.

 

Just a note on the ( no heat ) situation.On some cars/trucks if you accidently hook the
heater hoses up in reversethe heater core can airlock and you won't get much heat. This
mistake is easy to make ( I've done it myself[:@] ) , the top hose must go to the top of
the heater core , so the water flows down through the heater core. In tight engine compartments it can be very easy to hook them up backwards.
As for the airconditioner helping the overheat situation , the only thing I can think of is the electric fan is probably turned on full time automatically when you turn on the AC. This will give the radiator more airflow. Perhaps the electric fan is not coming on unless the AC is turned on. ( a bad fan sensor maybe ) which is bypassed when you turn on AC.
All this reminds me of the two worse days of my life...I was replacing a leaky heater core in a 1990 Mustang. I had to remove the seats , console and half the dash , thenlay in an awkard position for hours to get to that devil. Two twelve packs of Miller Lite and a box of bandaids later it was all back to normal I told my wife if it ever went bad again I was gonna have a mechanic do it no matter how much it cost , I'd rather second mortage my home to pay for it then go through that again !

 

Hey guys!

Just wanted to thank you for all your help! Got it flushed, heat is working again and is not over heating!!

Just wanted to thank you all!

Now to get that oil leak fixed...

You guys are great!!!!!!!!