Cooling system woes.....

DeadEnd · Dec 28, 2009

Well, i recently put a stock thermostat in my 1995 gt, where their previously wasn't one. And here is where the troubles begin, so far I haven't been able to drive my car more than a mile with out temp gauge shooting to the "H". So i decided that maybe the t-stat I purchased was a sour apple, one to the next one. Same results different day, i have jacked up the front drivers side of the car while re-filling the coolant to let the air "burp" out, and still same problems. I have also had my radiator, flushed and cleaned, to make sure it wasn't clogged. And prior to putting in a t-stat, the car always ran nice and cool, never had any problems. So any ideas? or should I just run no t-stat?

Chythar · Dec 28, 2009

You should have a t-stat in the car, to keep the coolant from getting too cold IMO. Have you verified that the car is actually overheating? The coolant gauge is notoriously inaccurate. You need a code reader that can read PIDs (engine sensors, basically), which will tell you if the engine is actually overheating.

Essentially, our engines have two coolant sensors: the ECT, which the computer reads to determine engine temps, and the CTS, which is only used by the gauge in the car. If the CTS is bad, the gauge will not give you the actual temps. If the ECT is bad, the car will never get out of "warmup mode", and it CAN overheat. However, the engine shouldn't heat up THAT fast in just a mile or so.

I remember having a similar problem on my V6 when the head gasket blew. Exhaust was leaking into the coolant, raising the temp and pressure really fast. Not saying that is your problem, but a possibility.

Hef5.0weisen · Dec 28, 2009

installed backwards? (sorry, had to mention it)

on the extreme end, you could have a bad headgasket...I had some issues a while ago, in the troubleshooting act I pulled the stat, which helped cool things off, however just a bandaid. Mine would get hot and puke though.

Any reason it was MIA to begin with?

toyman · Dec 28, 2009

I'm thinking that the T-stat is installed upside down as that's the only thing that was added when the problem started. Two bad T-stats in a row, while possible, isn't probable. Of course I'm assuming they are new and not used.

DeadEnd · Dec 28, 2009

Yes they were new, and installed correctly with the spring side facing the motor, and as far as why it was missing, well I didn't know till I decided to replace the corroded water housing. I just recently bought this car and have replaced a majority of sensors including the ect, and temp gauge (both on the intake). The gauge "seemed" to work fine before the t-stat, and I have thought that it was taken out to cover a bad head gasket, but I haven't seen any warning signs of a blown head gasket (i.e. no milky oil, excessive or constant bubbling in coolant, no water out the exhaust).

icemetalstang · Dec 29, 2009

I had a similair problem. It took me a good hour or 2 to bleed air out. I bought a radiator cap with lever release and burped air out with bleeder bolt on top of new waterneck housing.
Check to see if your over flow tank is not cracked and filled to capacity. When stat opens it will suck in coolant from tank. If tank is empty, cracked or to small it can suck in air. My coolant tank new from Autozone held 3/4 gallon of coolant in addition to the coolant in motor and rad.

DeadEnd · Dec 30, 2009

Well that bleeder bolt on the water neck got rounded out when I was trying to loosen it, so I continued to bleed that system about 3 times now. Got sufficient coolant in the overflow, and my fan is rigged to come on at start up (bought it that way). While idling the car shoots to the "H" and pretty much stays there, even when, at times, the motor is cool to the touch. Does anyone know what fitting is used to attach an autometer gauge, I found a trans temp gauge that my boss had given me a while back, so I'm gonna attach that sucker and see what my true temp is. On the positive side, I now have a heater!

icemetalstang · Jan 2, 2010

Not sure size of fitting. You can pick up a aftermaket gauge with fittings around $15 bucks. The two places you can put the guage is in the water neck bleeder bolt. (if it wasnt stripped). The only thing is that location would not read until thermastat opened. The other place is the temperature sending unit behind coil.

chaos254 · Jan 2, 2010

have you done a pressure check on the system? This could help you find a leak.

FYI... I have never bled my coolant system and never had any problems.

revhead347 · Jan 2, 2010

Maybe it's just me, but I've never had to burp a Mustang cooling system. I just pour coolant in the radiator, Run it till the engine sucks the water through, and put the cap back on. Fill up the reservoir, and I'm done.

Kurt

earleys94gt · Jan 2, 2010

replace the corroded water housing

Are you sure you didn't get any "junk" done the water neck area when you replaced the housing?

Could be causing the issue...

HankyGT · Jan 2, 2010

Is your fan turning on?

Do you still have air in the system?

Those are really the big questions. I've had the car go directly to overheating on the guage when I have air in it within 2 min of driving. Take the cap off and watch the COLD water shoot out.

Run it to temp with the cap off and burp it that way. You shouldnt need to do anything else with bleeders and such.

DeadEnd · Jan 4, 2010

Yes fans turn on, and HankyGT that seems like whats happening the gauge shows that its overheating but the coolant is cool to the touch. So I'm thinking there is still air in the system, buts its sure being a pain to get out.

Hef5.0weisen · Jan 4, 2010

I may be out to lunch here, but I thought I read on here recently that drilling a hole in the t-stat helped with purging the air....maybe an old trick?

I encourage you to gather some more opinions on that, maybe someone will chime in with some facts on that..I may be thinking about drilling a hole in the TB to help with idle issues.....

just "thinking out loud"
may be something to look into.....good luck

I remember my BMW's having a bleeder screw in the t-stat housing, small tapered/slotted screw, just back it out, bleed the air, tighten, done.

DeadEnd · Jan 12, 2010

well stock gauges suck, problem solved, all is well the world. And had to jack up the car pretty high, but that did make sure it was burped properly. Thanks for the input fella's

Cooling system woes.....

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