if the head gasket is blown, it can push compressed air (from the cylinders) into the water jackets. Smell inside your radiator to see if it smells like exhaust. Like i said, do the engine cool test i described before.

 

Read the post I made in this thread: http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=349539

This is how I bleed my cooling system, and it DOES work, though it's not the only way. You may have to get it hot, let it cool, and top it off two or three times to completely bleed it, but it is certainly worth it.

 

First off is your PCM programed for the fans to come on earlier for the 160stat?? If not the car will overheat even if there is no air in the system.
If soo lets try to start all over.. Sounds like to me your pulling the bleeder screws off while the car is running which doesn't help things..
1. make sure the car is COLD

2. take both bleeder screws out and the rad. cap off.

3. check coolent level if low fill up slowly untill coolent starts to come out the bleeder screw on the thermo housing, when it does stop filling and put that screw back in.

4. keep filling untill rad is full or coolent comes out the only bleeder screw left open ( the rad might fill up first and you will not get any coolent to come out the bleeder screw not a big deal if rad is full then put the last bleeder screw back in )

5.With rad. cap OFF, start the car. You will have to left it warm up all the way to normal operating temps. While doing this watch the coolent level in the rad. If it goes low keep filling it back up. Once the coolent level stay full in the rad. Put the cap back on.

6. Fill the overflow up about halfway..

7. Take the car for a drive.....

8. Post back here and let us know how it went.

 

Well I did exactly what was suggested and it worked for about a 2 mile drive. on the way to the store it worked great and I thought my problems were gone.

Once I got out of the store and started to drive home it shot up into the red.

WHat else could it be?

 

Actually now that I think of it all of my windows were fogged up and I couldnt get them defogged.

Is that a sign of something not working in the coolant system?

 

Souldn't make a difference, if anything, the car won't get hot enough for the fans to come on. I had my 160 in for months and NEVER had a single cooling problem.

 

does it smell sweet inside in the car? does it smell like coolant inside? I guess you need to replace your heater core. it may be leakinf while you are driving and as it cools down it is sucking in air. Instead of the coolant out of the overflow bottle. Check to see if the carpet is wet under the heater box on the passenger side.

 

Is changing the heater core a tough task? How much would a new one cost?

 

it is a job I've had to do yet. I probably would take to a shop, napa, or maybe autozone. Ask them if they would pressure your system first. If it doesn't hold pressure, then, you know for sure you have a leak. If you are lucky enough, you find the leak while you are doing the test.

 

Driving around, no it won't make a difference. But while the car is sitting or in stop and go traffic, it will heat up.


As for the heater core. I have yet to do one too. But i don't think its too hard. I am pretty sure it will come out without having to reomove the whole dash..

 

The previous owner wired the fan to come on when ever the key is in the ignition.

But does anybody else think that my problem is related to a faulty heater core?

Does anybody know how much they cost? Or how difficult the job will be?

 

I replaced mine by myself and didn't need to remove the whole dash, just the glove box and a few things under there! It took me a good hour and a half or more to do it, but I was taking my time.. I think I follwed a writeup or something, I will look to see if I find it, but it is pretty straight forward...
Also you could try flushing the heater core first it could just be clogged!

 

flushing the heater core that is when you hook up the water hose to one of the hoses going into the firwall correct?

And it will come out of the other hose.

 

Correct! Give it a shot.. but there is also the possibility like stated above that you have a small air leak sucking air into the system saomwhere. A presure test should cost you too much. A local radiator shop only charged me like $20 or so to pressure test my bike, only to find out I had a blown head gasket!

Good luck!!

Oh yeah by no means did I imply you had a blown head gasket, just telling you how much I paid for a pressure test and why!

 

if your heater core is leaking, you will have coolant in the passenger side floorboard as metioned before. Did you check that? By the way they don't cost very much. The one for my truck was like $30. I'm sure the one for our cars is about the same price. I could be wrong though. You know how these things are.