Afternoon. I've got an '01 Cavalier with the 2.2L engine. About a year ago it overheated and no matter what I did or tried it still over heated. In the last 9 months I've had the cylinder head pressure tested and milled in case it warped, replaced the head gasket and installed new head bolts, replaced both radiator hoses, replaced the t'stat ( 3 times ), replaced the radiator with a new one from NAPA, replaced the overflow resevoir cap, pressure tested the cooling system as a whole, ( no leaks ), checked the cooling fan to make sure it was operating as it should, replaced the coolant temperature sensor. Yesterday I drove only a mile and a half and the temperature gauge needle was in the orange heading to the red section. I changed the t'stat again (alas no luck ) the gauge went back up to the red section. Someone give me some ideas. I'm all out of ideas and don't/can't really afford to start all over from scratch at this time. Plus I don't want to scrap the car. Not that it's in great shape but, it just runs and runs when it's not over heating. If it doesn't over heat it'll run for a week or so and then.....it over heats again. Any ideas......something that I haven't checked or......anything??
Thank You
Fred

So you've done everything but the water pump? I would suggest starting there and replacing it. It's an easy job to do from the top of the motor.

That being said, it can be tough to get the air out of these systems when refilling them. Are you using the bleeder valve on the hose by the battery? Open that up when filling it up and run the car. When water starts pouring out of that bleeder close it up and try it out again.



"In Oldskool we trust"