It seems one thing leads to another.

Anyways I realize now being the noob that I am, I only replaced the coolant in the actual radiator and didn't get the other stuff, but this weekend I will probably. Now the first question is, before I changed the fluid out I put a substantial amount of water in the system to just drive it up the road to my grandpa's house because it was overheating and leaking coolant. Since I did that and only replaced the fluid that is actually in the radiator, did a lot of that water make it's way into the engine? The reason I ask is because at stops after driving for more than 3 minutes my temperature goes nearly in the red and then when I start driving again it significantly drops back to below half way... I've replaced the thermostat right after the first incident. Any other reason it might do something like that? (Water pump?, Head gasket?, or what?)

 

Did you bleed the air out of the system?

 

I did open the bleeder screws and a lot of air came out after I put some fluid in.

 

Probably still have air in the system. Lt1s are one of the hardest to bleed out all the way.

If its circulating but not actually full it will do like you are saying.

 

Also right after I changed out the radiator fluid it still got hot, but the next couple of times I drove it, it was fine and all of a sudden it's doing it again, which is why I posted originally.

So you're saying to bleed the air out again with the engine cold?

 

the easiest way for me to bleed the coolant is to fill it to the top of the radiator, go drive until it gets up to temp. Let it cool down, fill up again. Repeat this for like 2 days of casually driving around and it will be done. Or just buy an electric water pump, it makes life even easier.

 

My noobish showing... How would an electric water pump help?

 

you can turn it on and circulate the coolant without the motor running

 

Ok, I think I now have verified that the coolant is fine and that there isn't air in the line, but the problem is still occurring. Although yesterday I sat my car at idle at a stop sign for about 10 mins and the temp started rising but I did not hear any fans come on. So I'm thinking that's what it might be, does that sound plausible?

 

Having a higher than normal concentration of water in the coolant will not reduce cooling capacity. Water has a higher specific heat than ethylene glycol, so the more water in the mix, the better it cools. The downside of too much water (other than the fact it will freeze at a higher temperature) is the fact that the higher the water content, the lower the boiling point. Appears you have now ruled that out, since you have replaced the coolant.

Have you verified that the coolant level in the radiator is staying right to the top of the cap opening? If should never be below the top.

How high did the coolant temp get during your 10-minute stop?

 

what did the old radiator fluid look like? Maybe you have a clog somewhere.. i didn't have a problem quite like that but last fall my heat didnt work and my heater core was clogged pretty bad. the flush didn't work, i ended up having to use a garden hose to use a little pressure to get the gunk flowing out and man did a bunch of crap come out.

 

Didn't get all the old radiator fluid out just checked the cap and then bled the air via the bleeder screws and watched it circulate with the engine running and the cap off. Also when we initially drained the fluid out of the radiator it looked fine... so this is why I'm at the conclusion that it is the fans, but do you think I should still flush all the radiator fluid out of the rest of the system still?

 

Have you checked the simple things like the cooling fan fuses and relays?

 

I verified it, the fans are not coming on.

I have checked the fuse box and all of the fuses haves some corrosion on them, how do I tell if they're good (the big *** black and white ones for the fans)?

(Again sorry this problem is really annoying me and like I said I am a complete noob at cars)

 

I can tell you what happend to me a while ago, i use to have a 93Z with the electric water pump. The relay failed on it and the car started overheating. Well i changed out the relay and the pump worked just fine. All of the sudden i have overheating issues and that car would never come anywhere close to half way on the temp gauge, so something was off. Well after 2 weeks of going from one mechanic to another i decided let me start off doing it the simple way i was almost positive it wouldnt have made any difference but i changed the coolant and the overheating issues went away. The thing is if you over cook your coolant meaning your car is overheating, it looses its ability to properly work and is useless. You have to drain it out and put in new coolant making sure you bleed the system really well ofcourse. Anyway really long story short it was my coolant all along. After telling this to my mechanic he was suprised, he suggested changing everything but the coolant lol.