Ok I thought I fixed my car but apparently not. Last week my check guages light came on and I noticed the tempature guage was in the red. So I pulled over and by the time I was going to turn off my car the tempature dropped rapidly back to the middle bar. Before all this happened my car would run at around 185 now it was running around 200-210 for my normal operating tempature. My car kept randomly overheating that day. So I filled up the coolant and bleed the lines and the problem went away for a day or two but then it came back. I replaced the thermostat and filled up my coolant again (I somehow lost quite a bit). So for the next few days until now my car has been running find and has been back to normal tempature (185 or so). Well tonight my check guages comes on and the tempature is high again. So i pull in wal-mart and my friend goes in to get coolant because I just knew it would be low and it was. So somehow i'm losing coolant and I don't know where from. I've looked under my car after it's set for the night but I see nothing. I can find no cracks or rips in the coolant lines or any leaks. So i'm stumped on how my car is using up coolant.
And of course the security guard at wal-mart has to give me a hard time. He drove up and told me to leave. I told him my car is overheating. He once again says to leave .I thought he didn't hear my so I told him again and he said I can either lock it up and leave or he'll get it towed. So I rolled up my windows and started walking towards wal-mart to meet up with my friend since he went to get my coolant. So we walk back to my car and the security guard was sitting in his truck near my car but he didnt say anything while I filled up my coolant. ( I guess because I bought something?) Anyway me and my friends were in the parking lot earlier that night hanging out and he told us to leave then and we did. I know for sure if it was some adults sitting in the parking lot and their car was overheated he would'nt tell them that. We were causing no trouble so I don't understand what his problem was.
Anyway sorry for the long post/rant.

 

Did you install the correct thermo? *dual spring*. Did you bleed it correctly? are the fans coming on? (stock on temps are 226 and 235). Is there bags or debris sucked up in front of the radiator? Did you use a 50/50 mix of water and A/F?

 

Look for a spot under your car after it sits for a while. You are obviously losing coolant somewhere, you just need to find out where the leak is. Check the weep hole on your water pump and all hoses. If you see a drip, or a run of coolant, follow it up all the way. Good luck!

 

Yea I bleed my lines several diffrent times and I followed shoebox's intructions. I used a 50/50 mix of coolant and I had my pcm programmed by Ion so my fans come on a little earlier. (Not sure when though) I'm pretty sure they are both coming on but i'll check tommorrow for sure. I'm gonna see what I can find in the morning but i'm just trying to get some ideas on what to look for/check.

 

Well you could be leaking out of the resavoir if it boils over, because thats what it is supposed to do in that case.

New GM (not autozone/advance/napa) radiator cap could be one possible thing to try (if your cap isn't holding pressure, your system will boil over, but that doesn't really explain the high temp directly).

Also, check under your throttle body if you haven't yet. If you find coolant there, check the TB coolant passage. Mine was leaking there, as the gasket was old and shot. I just did a TB bypass to fix that.

If you are low on coolant though, that would explain the high temp, because you wouldn't have enough coolant to cool effectivly.

So it could be as simple as a radiator cap or a gasket.

Good luck!

 

Perhaps where it's leaking it's hitting your exhaust headers and vaporizing before it hits the ground like a head gasket or something...I'm taking a guess

 

I would keep an eye on your exhaust...see if you see any white smoke ay any time...i started having that problem when my head gasket started going....you could also pull your spark plugs and check them. if one is much cleaner than the rest , you have found your problem. (and if one of them has coolant on them). i hope that's not your problem, but that is my suggestion.

 

If coolant was being burned off on the exhaust I'm sure he'd smell it. If you had a blown head gasket and coolant was entering the combustion chamber, you would very well notice that as white smoke would be blowing out of the exhaust. How long of an interval is it between adding coolant?

 

mine was slowely leaking out of this small drain hole at the bottom of the water pump. I never saw anything drip on the fround because it only did it when hte car was on. I could always smellburnt coolant didn't see where until i looked really hard one day and saw it was burning before it could run off and hit the ground.

 

hows your oil looking?...is it still black or is it starting to look milky?

 

I changed my oil after it started overheating (I needed to anyways) and it looked fine. I checked my dipstick last night and the oil was still fine. I'll see what I can find today.

 

It really sounds like you still have air pockets in your cooling system. Try this...

Open both of the bleed screws.
Fill up the radiator.
Close the bleed screws.
Leave the radiator cap off.
Crank the car and let it run.
Watch the coolant level.

If there is air in the system that should fix it.

 

Ok I went out and checked my coolant and it was low. Yet I just filled it up last night. So I moved my car real fast (gravel driveway) but from what I could tell nothing seems to be leaking. So I popped off the cap and opened the bleeder screws while I filled it back up. Started car with radiator cap off and then i opened the bleeder screws once more just to make sure no air was in the lines and both the screws were spraying coolant right away. I let my car idle for about 15 minutes while I was looking on top and under it (put it up on ramps) and I don't see anywhere it's leaking. So i'm unsure of what's wrong.Checked my dipstick and my oil isn't milky or discolored. Ohh yea both fans are turning on. My dad gonna look at it with me tommorrow.
So if anyone has any other ideas i'd appreciate them.

 

You can NOT open the bleeder screws with the car running. Has to be done while it off.

 

it took my car a while before i saw signs of a blown headgasket...i was losing coolant just like you are.

for now, get it pressure tested for starters. then see if you can smell any coolant while driving...its gotta drip from somewhere, or leaking internally somewhere.