I followed the workshop manual along with Ogre's steps for a flush/fill. There was some concern as I was running Dexcool, so I went with green ethylene glycol. Also replaced the temp sensor and the temp sending sensor, the original's were quite nasty. Previously the gauge constantly read 160*, the first tick between 0-220.
I noticed on my ride into work, it stayed at 160 for quite a while, but I hit a small amount of traffic, it climbed within 2 mins to 220, never went over except maybe a hair past the 220 mark. For the rest of the drive in, it stayed half way between the 160 & 220 mark, climbing again to 220 when I hit a small amount of traffic.
Is it normal for it to fluctuate so much in such a short amount of time? Also noticed yesterday when I left it running to burp/fill that the fan never came on, even when at 220. Manual says it should at this temp, I cleaned the connection which was nasty. Is the switch bad? Never heard the fan cut on today either.
Temp lowers obviously when the car starts moving again. I burped it about 3 times with the rear jacked up, possible still has air trapped?
Keep in mind,you can't mix the red and green coolant. It will jell and plug the radiator. If you flushed the radiator Good, there is a good amount of coolant remaining in the engine block,held back by the thirmistat. Check your oil and tranny level (Automatic),if your engine continues to run hot. Other causes could be a bad fan or fan relay. Allso check for water in your oil. Milkey brown color. Turn on the AC and see if the fan kicks on. This will let you know if your fan is working. Normalley the fan will kick on slightly above 220 degrees.
[This message has been edited by James Bond 007 (edited 04-14-2014).]
Probably a radiator fan problem. (can be the switch, the relay, the fuse or the fan) do you have A/C ? if you do, turning the A/C on should start the fan.
Changed oil two weeks ago, no coolant in oil, no sweet smell or white exhaust. I flushed till the water ran clear, filled with 3 gallons of green, burped it 3 times, removed/cleaned reservoir. I did notice after it burped a few times, the radiator put Dexcool in the reservoir overflow. As I said, I ran water through the stem till it ran clear out the radiator drain **** .
Odd since the water at the radiator neck was clear as well, and when it burped, the green coolant came out, not a mix. And the Dexcool that shot into the reservoir, is straight orange, not mixed. SMH
[This message has been edited by mckaymotoworks (edited 04-14-2014).]
I had some erratic temp gauge behaviour due to a loose needle. I got a temp/gas gauge from a pick & pull for $10. Issue resolved. (Might not be your issue...)
Probably a radiator fan problem. (can be the switch, the relay, the fuse or the fan) do you have A/C ? if you do, turning the A/C on should start the fan.
Yes I have A/C though the belt isn't connected, assuming the compressor was out and PO bypassed, but all plumbing is still connected. How can I test the relay, sensor and the fan motor? I see some info though no testing of these components: Radiator fan
The strange thing is, I don't think the fan has ever worked and the temp stayed at the 160* mark until I replaced the sensors and coolant. But like I said, so far it's never climbed over 220*
EDIT: I guess I could run 12vdc to the fan plug, unless the voltage is stepped down.
[This message has been edited by mckaymotoworks (edited 04-14-2014).]
install stant superstant and Read the rest of coolant section in my cave.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
If you have the original radiator in the car it could easily be partially plugged and could have stuff moving around inside causing pockets of air to be trapped. Things could have gotten shaken loose inside the radiator when you flushed it several times too.
I can't tell if the "burp" you refer to is something you think the system does to itself or if it is a manual burp you do. Since 1985 about half the time after following the manual I have still experienced the needle swing you refer to. It is always fixed by burping the car while hot. This can be dangerous. I take a double thickness of towel and place it over the engine thermostat cover while loosening it ONLY TO THE FIRST STOP, and quickly tightening it. The system burps the bubble and all is then fine.
Sorry, just realized yours is a 4 cyl.
[This message has been edited by hobbywrench (edited 04-16-2014).]
