hey guys, just bought a 96 sunfire 2.2 5 spd...heres the problem, the car wouldnt get up to temperature when driving, but when idling, would get up to temp, and blow nice hot air...so naturally i thought thermostat...after changing the thermostat the car was overheating, so we used the bleeder valve to bleed any air out of the coolant system and topped up the system full, now the car is not overheating but the low coolant light is on, but the bottle is full!? i have unplugged the battery, sensor, i cant think why this light is on...also there is a really loud jingling noise coming from the belts...i thought waterpump, but i cant see any leaking coolant...
and last but not least the big rad hose near the battery does not get too hard, you can squeeze it...so i think there is no pressure on this side of the system?? help guys! thanks! DEREK

that jingling noise you hear i would guess is the water pump, the water pump can break and not leak coolant. My guess is that the impellor inside the water pump broke and is no longer spinning and there fore isnt moving and coolant and is now over heating the system. Other wise are you sure you put the thermostat in correctly? if its upside down that might cause overheating. . . the thermostat upside down would be my guess because it didnt start over heating till you changed that.


2.2 OHV

the car is no longer overheating though...after we bled the air out of the system it stopped overheating...and the thermostat is in the right way...but the damn low coolant light is still on and the belts are jingling like crazy, but the temp does not get hot??!

That jingling sound might be your A/C compressor. Double check and make sure you got all the air out. A little air could cause a lot of problems, and try changing your stat again. Could be a bad stat.


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What flavor of coolant are you using? Orange or Green?

There are reports that the Orange coolant, though it lasts longer, tends to congeal in places. I just recently worked on a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix with a "Low Coolant" light. All the levels were correct. So while I was flushing and refilling the system, I removed the Coolant Level sensor from the radiator side-tank and cleaned the probe with an old toothbrush and Simple Green (rinse well!). Honestly, it didn't look that gummed up. But the "Low Coolant" light no longer gives a false reading.

I suspect that, if you're using the orange (Dex-Cool) coolant, then it has gummed up the Low Coolant sensor as well as the heater core. You may want to try flushing the system including back-flushing the heater core.




- Kirk
1995 Chevrolet Cavalier (formerly owned by a little old lady...)

The reason your slow cooant light is on is because you have a slime in the bottom of your cooant res. This has trapped the lever for the coolant level sensor. Clean tank replace sensor.


Tach Out Motorsports
Option D Inc.

ok, so after having no luck yesterday with the new thermostat (kept overheating) we put the old one back in, and the car ran cold again last night...today i put in another thermostat (all 3 are the same brand) and the car is overheating again, blowing nice hot air out of the vents, but overheating. what the hell is going on here? one thermostat and the car runs too cold, another and the car runs too hot! god this is frustrating! help please! oh btw the bottom rad hose feels cool, and the top rad hose you can squeeze and is quite hot...

Try testing your thermostats. Put them in a pot filled with water, put it on the stove and heat it up. Since water boils at 212F and the thermostats are rated for 190F (or whatever), they should be fully open before the water reaches a full boil.

If you have a candy thermometer, you can see what the water temp actually is as they begin to open and when they reach full.



- Kirk
1995 Chevrolet Cavalier (formerly owned by a little old lady...)

thank you! seems like that test should work...if anyone else has any tips, or think they might know what the problem is, let me know...i am working on the car at the moment...since my last post i bled the air out of the system again, topped up the system, and took it for a drive, it didnt overheat this time, but is running dangerously close...(over the 1/2 way point on the temp guage) on a positive note, the heat is working great! lol , thanks guys

put the original thermostat(motor runs cool with this one) and the first one i tried(motor overheated with this one) and watched them in the boling water..and they seemed to open at the same time, and i took them out, and they both closed...so i dunno???

car is no longer overheating, but it does seem to be running quite hot (about 3/4 on the temp guage) i have bled the air out of the system 3 or 4 times...and i am stumped as to what else i can do...btw the top rad hose is hot and squishy, and the lower rad hose is cool to the touch, does that help?

The upper radiator hose would be hotter than the lower in normal operation. I don't know if I'd call the lower hose 'cool', but certainly cooler. Coolant flows from the top of the cylinder head, through the thermostat housing, through the upper hose and into the radiator. The radiator (of course) cools off the coolant, so when it flows back into the engine through the lower hose it should definitely be cooler.

As for the overheating - is it actually boiling over, red lights on the dashboard, a fountain of steam like Old Faithful? Or is the temp gauge simply going higher than you're comfortable with?

First off, did you install the thermostat correctly? The side with the spring should be towards the engine. The other (pointed) side should be towards the upper cooling hose.

The temp gauge or it's sending unit could be bad or inaccurate. Let's assume that it at least responds, but maybe reads high. Also, the gauge is not linear - it's quite sensitive in the middle, but less so at the ends. So, a wide swing in the middle is really only a few degrees difference. A 1/4" in the middle may be a few degrees, a 1/4" close to redline may be many degrees away.

Watch the gauge as the engine warms up. The needle should creep higher and higher, and may go above 'normal' until the thermostat fully opens. The gauge may then drop below normal a bit as the sudden rush of cold coolant from the radiator hits the engine. It should then stabilize at a 'normal' setting. Note: 195F means the thermostat will not begin opening until that temp, and won't be fully open for another few degrees.

Under the hood, you'll feel the upper radiator hose get warmer and warmer, and then suddenly get HOT as the thermostat opens and a rush of hot coolant flows to the radiator.

How about the cooling fan? It won't turn on until the engine reaches 220F. It also turns on with the air-conditioning (so long as the compressor is turning - if you're A/C is broken or it's too cold to run, it won't activate the fan). So, check your cooling fan and see if it's working. It also means that if you're sitting in the driveway with the A/C off, the engine will climb to 220F before the fan turns on (If you're driving over 30mph, there's plenty of ram-air so the fan's not needed).

Let us know what you find - I suspect you may have fixed things already.



- Kirk
1995 Chevrolet Cavalier (formerly owned by a little old lady...)

well i had the clanging noise in my 96' cav 2.2l and it was driving me nuts i was going to buy every new item that was on that belt line thats how nuts i got i ended up spraying a full can of wd-40 in the wheels and changed the belt the noise was gone with a top hose you can sqeeze it and let go and with your hand still on it feel the coolant running by if thats not happing then theres no pumping going on 1 somethings blockin it 2 the water pump is gone if that happens then theres coolant thats really hot and coolant somewhere else thats cool/warm i'd change you pump price it out even just to see if it is go to a junkyard and grab a used one for 20 buck i think never you theres one in gateau<<you know what i mean lol toronto non foggy..hope it helps let us know

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/4235/jim25ek.jpg

when i squeeze the top rad hose, it feels really hot, and it doesnt feel like there is anything running through it, also the lower rad hose feels cool, definetly not hot anyways, im thinking maybe the waterpump is finished, they are inexpensive and easy to change? between all the jingling and the car running cold sometimes, hot other times...im thinking there isnt much flow going on.

Waterpumps on the 2.2 are VERY easy. Remove the serpentine belt, remove the alternator, and 4 bolts the water pump comes off. Make sure you clean the surface really good before you put the new gasket/pump back on.


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the sensor is in the res. open the cap if its full put the cap back on n get a wrench n tap the end of it with the car on.. they get stuck alotttt.. anyway tap if it doesnt work u need a new res. w/a sensor like 20.00? as far as the overheating i dont know what is "overheating" to you which temp is it hitting? anything before the 3/4 line is fine