I have a 1996 Chevy Cavalier that is driving me up a wall. I had the head gasket replaced , new water pump, thermostat, complete system flush. Temp guage goes all the way to red and back to cold in a matter of seconds and NO heat in car? Whats the problem here?
2007-01-29 18:12:29 · 9 answers · asked by gr_elvis 3 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Car Makes ➔ Chevrolet
I own a shop, and have seen this many times in my life. The problem is; your system is low on coolant, and still has air trapped in the system. The vehicle you have is famous for this problem. What we do is jack the front of the vehicle up until the radiator cap, or fill point is at the highest point. Run the engine until the thermostat has opened. You can tell this by the fact the top radiator hose will be hot to the touch. Do this with the fill cap loose, and it will push coolant out all over the place, and then the coolant level will go way down. We call this burping the system, or making it puke to remove the air. Add coolant until it is full again, and then replace the fill cap. Turn off the engine, and make sure you have enough coolant in the reservoir. Let the vehicle sit until it has completely got cold to the touch. Remove the fill cap slowly, and if it is down any, put more in it. This should resolve the problem. If not you may have a faulty fill cap that is not letting the system take in coolant as it is needed. It's a good idea to just replace the cap if there is any doubt.
You aren't getting any heat because there is no coolant going through the heater core, due to the fact it is too low. The temp gauge will go to hot, and when the thermostat opens it goes to cold. Look around the thermostat housing to see if it has a bleed valve, if so; crack it open to let the air out. I have had some I had to drill a 1/8 inch hole in the side of the thermostat flange to make a bypass, so it would purge the air on its own. I have had some vehicles that this was the only way I could get the air out.
Glad to help out, Good Luck!!!
2007-01-30 00:19:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Head gaskets are installed wrong all the time. But it could be a cracked block where the crack only opens up when warm. Just leave the thermostat out until you find the problem. One of the advantages of that is you'll be able to see the water circulating. Electric water pumps were one of the dumbest ideas ever and never should have been on engines. Get two temperature strips made for the purpose and put them on both radiator hoses. That will tell you if the radiator is doing it's job. And don't use money as an excuse to replace that aluminum piece of crap with a good copper radiator. It will cost you a lot more money if it's not doing it's job. Put an exhaust gas analyzer on the radiator. You don't always see bubbling right off when head gaskets leak.
2016-03-29 09:19:05 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like either an air lock or a plugged port inside the motor or cooling system. If it's an air lock, park the car on a wicked angle so as to have the rad cap at the highest point. Remove the rad cap without the motor running and fill system with the proper coolant. Now run motor till hot or the thermostat opens. Some of these motors came equipped with vents to let the air out as the coolant starts to circulate. These are small brass fitting which when loosened have an internal hole to vent small amounts of coolant and/or air. Patience will be demanded here. If the coolant boils before you get the air out, shut off the car and leave the rad cap on till it cools off. Then perform the same job again. If you have a pluggage inside the motor you will have to find where by using the old garden hose method to find where the coolant won't flow and repair as neccessary. Good luck.
2007-01-30 05:41:20 · answer #3 · answered by Deano 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There could be a couple different culprits causing you to have no heat. You could possibly have an air pocket in the heater core. If you had the work done with a credible garage this might be unlikely, but can never be ruled out. Another possibility is a clogged heater core. In order to determine this a mechanic must unhook the 2 hoses going to the heater core and flush the core out with a water hose. Since you mentioned the gauge is going from hot to cold this could mean the cooling system is simply just low. As in the mechanic didn't properly fill the system back up, but if the low coolant light is not on this may not be the problem, but you still could have an air pocket causing it.
2007-01-29 18:32:04 · answer #4 · answered by derek w 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like 'air in the system'. With the radiator cap off, bring the car up to operating temp, when the thermostat opens you will see the coolant level go down in the radiator, then fill the radiator up with more coolant. (when the heads were worked on the thermostat was closed so not all of the coolant could be replaced)
2007-01-30 06:52:57 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It sounds very much like there is air trapped in the coolant passageways. Depending on the engine, these can be very difficult to eliminate. The usual procedure is to start the engine and loosen one thing or another--usually a heater hose--sufficiently to let the air out. The trick is to not let all the coolant out in the process. If the thermostat is near the top of the engine, you should be able to loosen (not remove) the thermostat bolts enough to let the air bleed out. As soon as it's pure liquid coolant coming out instead of air or bubbles, tighten the bolts without delay.
2007-01-29 18:24:46 · answer #6 · answered by 2n2222 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Did you consider the heater controll valve. This valve allows water to enter the heater and you get heat.
Do this feel both heater hoses. Are both hot, just 1 hot, neather hot.
If 1 is hot and the other is not the water is getting to the heater but not entering it. The valve may be at fault.
If bot hoses are hot water is getting to the heater but the door may not be opening allow the fan to blow accross the heater core.
Check out both this things.
2007-01-29 18:27:16 · answer #7 · answered by goldwing127959 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
what r u asking or r u saying the car is heating up al time . well if that's the question . then keep the a/c on at all times . this is what i did with my car i also have a chavy cavalier 95 ..... if u try this . let me know what happens okey ,
2007-01-29 18:43:57 · answer #8 · answered by layeye78 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
make sure you have proper amount of antifreeze/coolant........then check your temperature sensor,be sure engine reaches operating temperature...195* to 210*....then touch heater hose,s ......they should be hot.....if not....check .heater control valve,heater core,temperature control selector........again.....make sure you have plenty of coolant.......low coolant will imitate your symptom,s.
2007-01-29 18:39:53 · answer #9 · answered by slipstream 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋