my firebird keeps over heating?

Question

We have had all the sensors changed, we have had the radiator worked on, and it still boils over everytime you run it. Can anyone give me some advise please, or a web site that has some adivse

Yeah we changed the thermastat, we checked the coolant, we are just at wits end

and we did change the water pump

Answer 1

3 things first remove the radiator cap when the engine is cold fill the radiator leave the cap off ,,, start the car ,,Finnish filling the radiator,, look for bubbles when the car is cold ( I'm not talking about the couple you will see as trapped air escapes I'm referring to continued bubbles) if you see them you're head gasket is blown
2ND replace the thermostat ( i usually drill a 1/8 hole into the flat surface to allow air past ,,it helps reduce a air pocket behind the thermostat and aids in filling the system)
3rd replace the radiator cap with a new one
i assume you all ready checked for fan operation

you may want to get the system pressure tested for leaks
good luck

Answer 2

Q: When do the primary and secondary fans kick in?

A: According to the 1990 service manual, the primary fan is controlled by the ECM and will come on when the coolant temperature reaches 190 degrees F. The secondary fan has its own temperature sensor in the bottom of the engine block (passenger side) and will turn on when both of these conditions exist:

The coolant temperature is greater than 222 degrees F
When the A/C control head pressure is greater than 1600kPa and the vehicle speed is less than 40 mph.
The Auxiliary Coolant Fan is controlled by the A/C Pressure switch and the auxiliary coolant fan switch. It is not controlled by the ECM. It should have black and black/pink wires going to it, and the coolant fan will have black and black/red wires going to it.

Q: Is there anything I should be concerned about when flushing my radiator on a LT1 F-Body?

A: Yes, there are several things. First, you should take great care in keeping any coolant off of your OptiSpark which is located in the front bottom portion of the engine. This is especially important on 93 and 94 models, as they are not properly vented. Water will destroy your Optispark. When filling your cooling system back up, make sure that you bleed the cooling system by opening to 2 valves on top of your engine. This will allow for air-bubbles to escape. Once again though, be careful as the valves are located directly above the Optispark.

* Hope these two FAQ's help give you some idea of what to look for to stop the overheatin issue w/ the Firebird. Or you can check out the links below for some other ideas on your situation.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Could be as simple as a thermostat or a water pump. Can check the Tstat by simply running the car without one installed and see if the car still gets hot. While the Tstat is out and the car is cool open radiator cap and start the engine. You should see coolant coming out of the ends of the tubes inside the radiator if not then either the water pump is bad or the belt may be routed incorrectly if it is a serpentine drive system. Last and worst is of course the dreaded cracked head or blown head gasket. Sometimes you can check for these by draining the oil and looking for coolant, but that doesn't always work. If it is not a big crack or tear in gasket may not leak a lot of fluid into engine. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Surely you have checked your water pump and Thermostat, or whoever worked on your radiator should have done these things too. If it isn't the radiator, water pump, thermostat or sensors then all I can think of is you are not running antifreeze (necessary in modern cars in summer) or your belt is loose. Those things too should have been checked by your mechanic so I strongly recommend you get another mechanic to look at everything. Cars can overheat if they are out of oil and also if you have a cracked engine head, gasket, or a freeze plug is leaking. Have a qualified person look at everything that might cause a vehicle to overheat.

Answer 5

Welcome to the me too problem of the firebird. This was a big problem with the firebirds.. I have one that still overheats cause I'm too lazy to fix it i just turn on the heat or AC to cool it down if it happens.

First, the design of the car depending on which nose you have on it(I have the GTA nose with basically no gaps for wind to get to the radiator) makes it hard to the radiator to cool. If you drag the front end on the ground alot like most people do the wind deflector gets all screwed up and you lose alot of flow too.
But one of the answers said above mine about the tempature that the fan kicks on I think would be the best culprit.. I saw a sensor on ebay once i thought about getting that would turn the fans on alot earlier than the factory sensor which i think is set way too high.
Look into it will prolly save you a engine if it works.

Answer 6

After running it boils into the overflow resv? and during the drive it kind of acts normal? The ?year? ?engine size? can have a air pocket that causes the boiling. Try removing the top heater hose and jack up the front of the car and fill the system replace the heater hose with coolant running out the firewall and hose. Top of the coolant tank and replace the cap Good luck just burping out the air on top of the LS-1 V-8 can take patience. Trust me My LS-2 Took two attempts and I am a professional.

Answer 7

ok tell the rest of the group how bad you overheated the thing before you started changing parts. When the little needle goes to the red... thats bad. I wonder if you will fess up that you drove this car running hot until it refused to go anymore. It does no good to change the cause of the overheating after you have damaged the engine. You clearly are getting combustion pressure in the cooling system.You have to do maintenance before the system fails. Ive seen this before... cooling system maintenance recommended and you turned it down. you may have even told the guy at the shop he was trying to get to you. then you learned that the 400 dollars of cooling system maintenance you needed really was needed. I would say a compression test and a block seal test are in order. but then again if you had any business dinking with your own car you would know that already.

I recommend the following steps

1. find a good technician. cheap is not good.
2. pay for a diagnosis.
3. prepare to unasz about 4 g's for a new motor cause u have overheated this one to the point of engine damage.

Have a nice day.

Answer 8

It is apparent that the radiator fluid is not circulating drawing the heat away from the engine..

Water circulation problems in cars are caused by

1) the thermostat is stuck closed
2) the radiator is plugged (or partially plugged)
3) the water pump is bad

Hey.. does running the HEAT in the car prevent boilover or at least reduce it? and do you get a lot of heat? If not it is probably the water pump... In most cars neither 1 or 2 would block water circulation to the heater core

Answer 9

Sounds like maybe the heater core may be plugged. I had a Pontiac that did the same thing, I changed the radiator, even changed the head gaskets as I thought maybe a cylinder was leaking into the water jacket.

Turns out there was a valve in the heater core that had been stuck closed, and wasn't allowing proper water flow. If you can, re-route your cooling hoses to bypass the heater core and see if the problem goes away.

Answer 10

have they checked for a good thermostat and is the water pump functioning properly --- the timing of the firing order could be off slightly and that could be the cause of the overheating .... Next time you ask a question please give the car year and the motor size ( I-6 or V-8 ) and you will get better results in the answers...