when you have the rad cap off and you rev the engine is it suppose to make the water kinda shoot out of the rad kinda???

 

well heres another MAYBE but hopefully not.......

maybe water pump is going bad.. and its just not pumping enough water thru the motor........

thats the only other thing i could think of if everything else is fine....

and while your at it might as well slap on a new timing belt and tensioner since your already thier...

 

yeah i know i just really thought it would have been something simpls cause i have no money right now for any of the bigger things and i really need the car right now....its just really frustratingand im almost out of ideas like i said cause i dont have the money for the more expensive things.

 

ya i hear ya thier... BUT sounds to me like the only other thing it could be if she is still overheating....

if you can do the work yourself youd save a bunch im sure! but if ya cannt do it yourself then it can be expensive...


i have my parts already to do mine BUT im just to lazy to swap all mine out for new parts....

 

Are you completely sure it's not the radiator itself restricting the flow? I bought my '95 hatchy because of a blown head gasket caused by a clogged radiator - which seems a whole lot like the same thing you're going through. Flushing doesn't do much to help a radiator if the tubes themselves are gunked up with deposits. The P.O. said he'd had the radiator flushed, but like I said - flushing doesn't do much. I put a new radiator in before starting the engine after I got it all back together, and the temp gauge hasn't seen anything above the 1/3 mark - ever.

Here's a test to try. Drain the radiato/engine of coolant, and pull the upper and lower hoses. Leaving the cap on, put a garden hose up to the upper hose and turn on the water to about 25% flow from the hose. Now note how quickly the water begins flowing out of the lower hose. It should come pretty quickly (within 2-3 seconds or so). If there's any hesitation, pull the radiator, take it to a radiator shop for a flow test, and ask for their opinion. If they offer to 'Rod' it, ask how much (they'll run a rod through the cooling tubes to remove blockages). A new radiator through AutoZone is only $90 - I'd probably just go with a new one anyway.

Good luck.

 

mym dad said that he was pretty sure the radiator wasnt clogged or anything like that cause on the inside everything looks fine and there doesnt look like anykind of gunk or stuff....i dont know though,i told him it could be something in there we cant see but he seems to be pretty sure about it so i dont know....i might just have to take it down to the dealer and see if they could run a test on it or something.

 

I'm not sure how things are in your town, but my experience with the stealership mechanics is that they charge you a ton of money to either do nothing or make things worse in most cases. If you have a good relationship with your local stealership, so much the better for you - not all of them are the same. It just depends on who you guys trust to work on your cars.

I'm not discounting your dad's experience or what he says in the least - he probably knows more about cars than I do... who knows. But what I've seen of radiators (and other devices of the like - water heaters, water softeners, etc.) the deposits will build up from the bottom up - meaning that you might not even have any indication that anything's wrong simply by looking in through the open cap.

Honestly, I would poll your dad's friends and find out if anybody recommends a good radiator shop to have it tested. Once the hoses and fan circuit are disconnected, it should be a matter of pulling a single bolt on the bracket over the top (that holds the radiator secure). Then it's just a matter of pull the radiator out through the top and haul it down to the shop. You should probably also remove the fan/fan shroud and anything else that's not actually part of the radiator before taking it to them as well.

I'd still try the driveway test though - ya got nothing to lose with that one... except some coolant. And you'll know if you have a flow problem through the radiator for sure.

Good luck with it, and post your results for the benefit of the group.

 

Any news on this repair yet?

 

not yet pretty much the same....havent had time yet to take apart the head so the car is just sitting in the garage but as soon as we do it ill reply back on this and let ppl know.

 

did you check every hose that holds coolant? i had a tiny hole in the heater hose that i only noticed when i looked deep in the engine. stuck my head pretty far in when the engine was running. not the smartest idea. but i found the problem.hoses are the worst cause they break down from the inside. i would suggest replacing all the hoses if you haven't lately or if it is new. just my thought.