Car was leaking coolant @ the water pump, so I went out and bought a new one and replaced the original. No issues there. Refilled the coolant, test fired the car and got it up to normal temp and no issues there. No leaks and temp was at 195 and steady, where it normally is under regular driving conditions.

So, I pull it out and start to drive it home, doing 55, I notice the temp starts to spike. Pull over and pop the hood. I let the engine cool down for a few and then re-start and feel all the hoses. Turns out, I feel no flow from the radiator to the crank. Is there a step that I missed? Any ideas what may be wrong?

Did you bleed the system?


As your standing in front of the car. Just in front of the radiator is a little black or blue cap. Unscrew it and push it it. That'll bleed the system.

You always have to bleed the coolant system in something like this unless the radiator cap is the highest point of the system. In the case of a cavalier it's not.

I know this because I had to replace the radiator when I wrecked my cav. Did what I just told you and worked fine.

I'll give that a shot. I figured it was something simple like that, but didn't see anything quite that obvious.