Please help with stupid thermostat

[jmuva44]

Okay, let me just say that the only part of the car that I dislike working on and the only part that gives me any problems is the darned cooling system. Primarily coolant related areas.

I decided today that I was going to put a 180 tstat in my car. Easy enuf and only $10 or so. I had a few hours to kill so i went ahead and drained all of my coolant and unbolted the tstat housing. Come to find out, after all that, the previous owners had already installed a 180 tstat.

Now, my problem is, and typically is whenever I install a tstat...I cant seem to get the car to get all the air out or something. I installed that thing twice today. Both times the tstat was put in correctly with the spring in the manifold, gasket and plenty of silicone. The tstat did not 'fall' down inside of the housing cuz i checked it and it was perfectly centered. I did burp the radiator by squeezing the top radiator hose, several times. I started the car with the radiator cap off as well to let it burp itself a bit and continued to squeeze the hose till no more air bubbles came out.

Still I couldnt get any heat inside of the car, the upper hose never got real hot, the coolant boiled over the radiator and the car began to excessibly heat up.

Whats the deal here? I'm tired of cleaning up coolant from the garage floor and I want my car to run. I hate coolant, I hate tstats and I hate radiators!!!!

 

[TrueBlue95GT]

I'm not sure if this would solve ur problem, but have you replaced the radiator cap?

 

[jmuva44]

Yeah, its not that. It is one of them fancy ones with the little red lever. Whatever you want to call it. I know it is related to the tstat swap. it was fine before I went and messed with it. There is not a problem with my cooling system persay. It is not overheating. I just cant get the tstat installation to work so that the coolant will circulate, the heat will come on and the car will not overheat (in relation to the tstat swap only).

 

[jmuva44]

Okay. Night two on replacing a f'n thermostat. I swear i'm not stupid when it comes to cars. I let it sit over night and ran it again with the new tstat. No heat, upper hose stone cold. Tore it down, put in the tstat that was in it to begin with (it worked) and same thing. No heat in the car, upper hose stone cold. I know that the tstat went in straight and i put it together correctly. The pointed end goes into the housing and the spring part goes into the manifold, right???? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me some ideas. All I did was take out the 180 tstat that was in it and I tore apart my homemade CAI in order to paint a new one black and clean my K&N. Now it idles rough and the tstat doesnt seem to be opening.

Any ideas?????

 

[TrueBlue95GT]

Check engine light come on at all? Did you get the recall for the fan done already?

 

[jmuva44]

No light and the fan comes on fine. The tstat just wont open so that the coolant will circulate.

 

[TrueBlue95GT]

How long did you let it run for?

 

[mytight95]

you didn't put the hoses for the heater core on wrong did you? just curious, i have done it don't know what it causes cause i didn't crank the car before i noticed it.


jason

 

[jmuva44]

I didnt touch the heater core. I only removed the thermostat and the cold air intake. Nothing else.

 

[jmuva44]

I let it run till the car got almost too hot and the coolant boiled over the radiator. Then I shut it down

 

[jmuva44]

Also, I tested the tstats in hot water and they opened fine. So.....the tstats work, they are installed properly and in the correct direction, I am burping the system and running the car with the radiator cap off.....still.....no heat on inside and radiator hose is cold. This means the tstat is not opening. WHY?!?!?

 

[Zero Signal]

Maybe your water pump is shot. Try running it without the tstat, sqeeze the upper radiator hose and twist the TB and see if you can feel some pressure surge as the rpm's increase. And of course, if it still gets hot with no t-stat, you either have some major clogs or a bad water pump (assuming your fan is working alright).

Still, the no heat in the car makes me thing it's the pump, but I could be WAY off

 

[jmuva44]

I appreciate your input. But the thing is that my car was completely fine before I removed the tstat. I only removed it cuz I thought it was the stock tstat in the car and I wanted a 180 instead. The car never had any problem whatsoever with cooling including the fan and I assume the water pump as well. The temperature never got above the "O"/"R". This has to be related solely to the tstat swap or CAI intake dissasembly/assembly (which I doubt).

 

[wytstang]

check the hose that goes the tstat housing the the water pump maybe it kinked really bad

 

[Zero Signal]

I still think you should try running it without the t-stat. I know it's a pain in the a s s to change it out over and over, but the last thing you want to do is take it to a mechanic! If you run with no t-stat and everything else is working properly, the coolant will take forever to warm up and you'll be able to rule out the pump. If that's the case I'd say reinstall it, and go get the system power flushed along with the radiator to rule out clogs and/or air. I think they will tell you if they have problems flushing it out becuase of clogs. If the problem persists I guess I can think of one major long shot, which would be to turn the t-stat around. And the longest of the long shots shooting in the dark, most likely not the case cuase I don't know if it's possible: maube the water pump is turning the wrong way from the wrong belt being routing incorrectly. I know, it's WAAAY out there, but hey.

I'm just tossing in ideas with the consideration of that perhaps it's only coincedence that you just changed the t-stat. It's not that unlikely.

 

[White03Mach]

If the fan is coming on it should be allowing coolant to pass thru after the radiator burps. You could have a faulty ECT sensor!!

 

[Zero Signal]

Well the cooling system is all mechanical. There is no electronics controlling it. The ECT only controlls the fan as far as cooling goes. Other than that it's only a measuring device used to lookup data in the computer's tables.

 

[jmuva44]

Yeah, besides it has a week old ECT in it.

 

[SaltWaterFish]

To see if your stat is working properly boil some water on the stove. When the water starts boiling remove the pot and with a pair of pliers dip the stat in the water.

It should open all the way. If it does not it is no good! If this checks out then I would start calling around for the cheapest water pump, but only if you are putting the stat in the right direction.

Hope this helps

 

[AznStanger3v]

be sure to fill the radiator back up with fluid. and fill the overflow tank up as well. im not trying to make you sound stupid, but fill up the metal cap on the far right. then fill up the over flow tank and leave both caps off. Turn the car on and just let it run. As the temp starts to climb, give it some revs and see if the tstat opens. go under the hood and feel the hose that connects to the tstat housing. if you feel nothing going in there, then you are stuck like chuck. hopes this helps