I have a 2003 Cavalier automatic with the M62 supercharger running 10 PSI (3.1" pulley). It is Cobra heat exchanger intercooled, dual pass endplate, and has the phenolic spacers. I have replaced all hoses (GM OEM), thermostat (GM OEM), water pump (GM OEM), Engine Coolant Temperature sensor (BWD), 2 row radiator (Ebay "Radiator Classics"), and have flushed it several times with 60% distilled water/40% Prestone Dex-Cool plus RedLine Water Wetter. It still runs hot. With the A/C on in the city I am a line and a half above the middle (Pontiac Sunfire cluster) and on the freeway I am two and half lines above the middle. What is going on?
my car did that exact same thing when my thermostat was sticking
HOLY COW??? ur running the reflash still. i think you worry too much man. take a look and see if anything is stuck on the radiator. change ur mix to 50/50 and go from there. there could be a chance with the hot arizona summers and what you say you are running at that you are building up a lot of pressure and steaming out water but just not knowing it. check ur levels. did you hook ur trans cooler and all that back up?
Time for some dual fans, that will help big time.
Also, thoses temperatures where at night. Yeah, not good.
dakota sutherland wrote:my car did that exact same thing when my thermostat was sticking
I thought the same thing. I replaced it about 1500 miles ago with a genuine GM thermostat and re-checked it when I replaced the water pump.
EvoFire wrote:HOLY COW??? ur running the reflash still. i think you worry too much man. take a look and see if anything is stuck on the radiator. change ur mix to 50/50 and go from there. there could be a chance with the hot arizona summers and what you say you are running at that you are building up a lot of pressure and steaming out water but just not knowing it. check ur levels. did you hook ur trans cooler and all that back up?
Yes, still have the GM flash, but others do too and don't seem to be having cooling issues this drastic. Everything has been replaced, checked and cleaned. The trans cooler has been moved from in front of the condensor and put on the passenger fender with it's own fan running all the time.
rich weeks wrote:Time for some dual fans, that will help big time.
I also installed dual fans. Actually have three with the trans cooler fan. I was going to install a fourth one, but I realized that there must be another issue.
Alright it might be time to think outside the box then.. Did you bleed the system properly? Which direction are your fans blowing you say you have two hooked up when do they come on and how are they set up? Have you hooked up a scaner and actually looked at your coolent temps?
Do you still have the factory air dam? This sounds exactly like the issue from not having that.
1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by:
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RED wrote:Alright it might be time to think outside the box then.. Did you bleed the system properly? Which direction are your fans blowing you say you have two hooked up when do they come on and how are they set up? Have you hooked up a scaner and actually looked at your coolent temps?
As far as for the cooling system bleed, I thought it was a self bleeding system. I know it takes a while for the thermostat to open and flow coolant if the cooling system has been completly drained. I made sure to leave the engine runnning for a while to make sure the thermo opened and it did. The coolant level is adaquat and a hydrometer reads the coolant at 0* F.
As for the fans, there is the stock puller behind the rad and an aftermarket pusher in front of the condensor. They are flowing the right way (individuallu checked with a piece of paper).
I've thought about connecting a scanner also. There could be a possibility the cluster is failing (not my first cluster to go out) or the ECT sensor (being aftermarket) may be defective.
Leafy (Club Jeffie FEA man) wrote:Do you still have the factory air dam? This sounds exactly like the issue from not having that.
Every OEM piece of plastic, every air dam is on the car. In addition, I added an extra air dam tonight to channel the air from the intercooler to the condensor. It surrounds the Cobra H/E from the sides and under and channels it straight back.
Oh god, thats not how double fans work. That might be your issue. Get rid of that pusher fan, all its really doing is blocking the air from going over your radiator.
1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by:
Kronos Performance
WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer
I know dual fans usually mean next to each other behind the rad, but space is limited. I know that the fan could be blocking air, but at idle especially and in city it has improved cooling drastically. As for highway it is tje same as before. 1 line to 2 1/2 lines above the middle.
My money is on that fan. i bet if you move it behind (i know space is limited on our cars) you'll drop that extra 2 bars. Remember our cars do run warm from the factory i believe the fan kicks in at 260 or something like that of the top my head and since your running the relash in AZ of all places that will probably explain it all.
put 2 smaller puller fans on the engine side get big enough that you can put them side by side
JBO since July 30, 2001
I went back to the old factory radiator and it seemed more well behaved, but it still runs hot, 1 line over in city and 2 on the freeway. It appears the OEM is 33 rows down while the "2 row" is 31 rows and the dual rows actually add up to about the same thickness as the OEM single row. Plus the fin count is greater in the OEM than the aftermarket one.
After that I removed the fan in front of the condensor and it is now about 1/2 line over in city and still 2 on the freeway. What in the world is going on?
