Hello, my daughter has a 96 cav 2200. The car has been heating up to the just before the red for a few days after only driving for a few miles. Yesterday it got to the red in about 4 miles. Today I replaced the thermostat and gasket. Filled the coolant back up with dex cool 50/50. Started it up to warm it up so I could purge the air. after about 8 minutes before I could purge the air out the car stalled and wont turnover. I figured I would wait a while before trying again. Any thoughts?
you let it overheat until it seized because the water pump is bad. for the record, while that is a possibility, i don't know if it is right or not, it's just a guess.
87 Firebird
All stock...........lol.
how fast were you traveling before it got that high in the temp range? is the fan coming on? any air in the system? how old is the overflow tank cap? do the hoses get hard at operating temp? when was the last tiem the water pump was changed? how aboot the ECT sensor? radiator flushed? is one of the hoses collapsing? do you have a leak anywhere?
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i was thinking cooling fan, or water pump........mine redlines for temp when its sitting for a while do to cooling fan, but when i get going itll cool off
It had been taking between 20 30 minutes while idling to overheat. This time it was nearly 8 minutes before it stalled.
Usually she would be traveling normal speed about 35 miles per hour only and 10 minutes to work and it would overheat.
the fan does kick on, no bubbling and i purged so i dont think theres any air in the system, reservoir cap seems tight but is the original cap, hoses are still pliable and cool to the touch, radiator was flushed last spring, no hoses collapsing, no leaking and the ect and water pump have never been changed to my knowledge. she has only had the car for 3 years.
Good news is that there is definitely coolant getting into the engine. I started it up about 3 hours after it stalled and everything appeared fine. I disconnected the radiator hose from the thermostat housing and warm coolant was flowing from the engine. I put everything back together. made sure there was no air and topped the coolant off. The car ran idle for about an hour with-out overheating. Her and her boyfriend went out to eat about a mile away and said there was no problem coming or going. I am going to run it again today for about an hour and a half since it is considerably colder today than yesterday and perhaps take out for a test spin. also thinking about changing the oil. its a bit dark and seems thin. Not sure if she has 5w30 in there or not but it could hurt.
ok I ran it and it was fine, I drove it about 3 miles and it heated up just a hair before the red zone. Waterpump? but im pretty sure that the engine is getting coolant.
ok still heating up after only about 10 minutes of driving but now there is no heat from the heater?
still sounds like air is trapped in the system based on the fact that your not getting heat, or that thermostat that you mentioned you replaced has already gone bad, not likely though. I would spring for a new resevoir cap and water pump since they not too expensive and should be replaced anyway if they're original. Before you change the oil I would also examine the dipstick for bubles/ foam or discoloration in the oil, a sign of a bad headgasket. Perhaps also try to rent the coolant pressure tester kit from autozone, this would show if the system is losing pressure or overpressurized, pointing to headgasket or trapped air in the system.
