Replaced the radiator and tstat but seem to still be having a overheating problem. When the car is running it trys to over flow the coolant but when shut off the coolant goes down like it needs to be added to. Have tried bleeding out the air using the bleeder valve. Did not have this problem before the radiator replacement. Any ideas?

 

Is the water pump working correctly? When does it overheat? You should fill in the type of car and mods section.

 

How can I test the water pump?

 

http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#cooling

 

Either:
a) your hoses are mixed up, or
b) you have a blown head gasket that is consuming coolant as you drive

1) Ensure the small coolant return hose from the heads/throttle body is connected to the LOWER nipple which returns coolant UNDER the radiator cap, while the small overflow tube is connected to the UPPER nipple that allows coolant out when the cap valve opens. Don't laugh, I've seen it happen... common problem with radiator swaps.

2) change the oil and look for a water puddle floating in the catch can... if so you got a head gasket leak from overheating the engine. (yes, #1 can cause #2).

 

try bleeding air again...sometimes it doesnt all come out...has hapened to me before when i put a new radiator

 

The oil having coolant in it is easy to check if you don't need an oil change. Just loosen the plug enough some fluid comes out. the coolant will be in the bottom of the pan and come out first. I found this out from my screw up. Luckily i flushed it good before it was in there to long.

 

Yes, check the water pump. When the pump is not spinning, the stat will not open either. (well, maybe it would if you really let the motor cook awhile).

If you remove the stat and then run the engine with the rad cap off, you should be able to easily see coolant flowing through the radiator filler neck.

When my water pump shaft failed, I could fill the system, and after idling about 1-2 minutes, coolant (cool, with no steam) would gush out the fill neck if the cap was off. Then settle down, then glug out again. The coolant was boiling locally in the heads, and with no pump action, the forming steam pocket would cause coolant to surge out. Another clue was the temp gage would climb above normal, but the coolant in the rad never got hot and the fans would not turn on. The temp reported by the PCM was low, though. That sensor is in the pump.

 

Mine did this same thing. Ended up the 2 hoses at the top of my radiator were switched. My overflow was lower than the return, so it would return fluid and suck it right out the overflow and then the overflow tank would shoot water everywhere. 1 thing I learned from that is dont let your automotivally challenged friends help u on your car.

 

Not necessarily. I had a blown headgasket and it was leaking directly into my cylinder and burning up and not getting into my oil.

 

Did you get both bleeders? They're right next to each other but the second one is hard to see. These cars are a bitc* to bleed.

 

Have you checked the radiator cap for pressure retention, and the hose from the overflow nipple to the reservoir for cracks?

 

damn fred beat me too it

if it's filling the resevoir...then the cap isn't holding the pressure...happened to me.

it's a $5 fix

 

I'm not clear on what you mean by "over flow the coolant ".

Is it overflowing the resevoir or overflowing the radiator when your letting the car run? You should be running it with the system sealed. As posted above if the res is overfilling its likely the radiator CAP OR your getting no flow and the thing is boiling water causing it to overflow as well...

 

Listen to me again....

if it's overflowing out the resevoir it is most definitely the hoses being swapped wrong. You wouldn't be the first to do it, and yes it's easy to do.

make sure the hose from the heads (or from the throttle body if you havn't bypassed it) goes to the lower nipple, and the upper nipple is connected to the resevoir.