How would I burp my car. I have been hearing about this ever since I bought my 86 Fiero SE but never did it. But now my car is overheating badly. So I guess I should try it. I posted a message about my car oveheating yesteray and all of the responses that I got were better than what the mechanics told me today. I took my car to one of the best shops in town and they said that they had no idea why it was overheaing. They would test it and it would be fine one time, and the next time it would oveheat badly. The only thing they said was to take out the thermostat. The only thing I can think of doing is wiring the fan to stay on all the time while the car is on. How would I do this? Is it easy? Right now the fan is hooked up to an auxilery switch that was installed a few days ago. It doesnt work that well. Its supposed to make the fan come on when the thermostat for it gets to a certain temperature but it rarely does. The fan usually comes on when the car is off and parked. I live in georgia where it is already getting pretty hot so I guess it would be a good idea to wire the fan to stay on all the time. From what I was told there is an electrical problem somewhere in the car thats causing the fan to not come on when its overheating. The fan would come on when I would use the air conditioner before he installed the switch in the front of the car. But now it will only come on through the auxilary switch. Can I still make the fan stay on all the time.

Sounds like you're driving a 6cyl. If so, it has three temp sensors. The one you want is just above the water pump and just below the thermostat. That's the one which operates the fan. It only has one wire going to it, and if you ground that wire, the fan will run. As for burping the cooling system, it's not involved, but it takes some space to describe. Just do a search on the forum for Burping The Coolant, and a lot of good info will come up. One other thing. As you now know, a garage mechanic usually wishes he knew as much as a forum search will turn up. By the way, a bracket which holds the EGR solinoid is in the way. Remove one bolt and pull it out of the way.

[This message has been edited by pops (edited 03-13-2003).]

http://www.thefierofactory.com/qaburp.htm http://www.thefieroclub.com/osg/fiero_osg/osg.html#cooling

May give you some helpful info. I think I would lose that aux. switch, and I would try and chase down the main problem before letting the fan run all the time.

Luck!

You could check out the ogre's cave. The link is at the top of the page. I think he has the burping procedure in there.

Are you sure the pump is working? The plastic impeller on rebuilt units can come loose and fail to move any (or omly little) coolant. Look in the thermostat housing with engine running, it should spit at you!

I suggest Rodney Dickman's low temp fan switch and thermostat to everyone too. They made a huge difference in my car. Not expensive, easy to install. No downside.

As for an all the time fan, I don't like it. I like for my car to work as intended. I was having to turn on my a/c to get my fan to come on for a while. Rodney's switch fixed that.

As everyone said, burping the car is not all that hard. Just takes some time and patience. Here is what Ed Parks suggests:

Here is how we do it.

Remove radiator cap, thermostat housing cap, and thermostat with the car on level surface.

Add coolant into the thermostat housing until it runs out of radiator...cap radiator.

Slowly add more coolant until housing is full. Replace cap....leave thermostat out.

Run engine for 15-20 seconds.

Remove cap and slowly add more coolant until housing is again full.

Repeat until no more coolant can be added. Might be 4-5 times.

Replace thermostat and cap.

Run engine until warm and add coolant to "Full When Hot" mark on over flow jug.

Check jug next day. Should be at "Full When Cold" mark.

Takes quite awhile, but gets system completely full, and usually only has to be done every couple of years.

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I thought the fan themostat was located on the rear of the trunk side head. The one below the coil.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by pops:

Sounds like you're driving a 6cyl. If so, it has three temp sensors. The one you want is just above the water pump and just below the thermostat. That's the one which operates the fan.

The temp guage sensor is by number 5 cyl. The fan switch is trunkside of the cold start switch, which is just to the right of the schrader valve. The horizontal sensor near water pump is the temp/coolant sensor for the ECM.
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[This message has been edited by Larry (edited 03-14-2003).]

My "burping" procedure is even more simple than that.

1) Park the car on an incline, nose down.
2) Open the thermostat cap, pull out the thermostat, and add coolant until the thermostat neck is full.
3) Replace the thermostat and cap.
4) Fill the overflow tank about 2/3 full
5) Drive the car for a day, then check the coolant level in the overflow tank. Add coolant if necessary.

This procedure has worked for me every time.

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 03-14-2003).]