imediatly after i start my car the coolant is circulating? stuck open thermostat? could this be part of my cooling issue?

 

Circulating how? Coolant is always circulating.

 

u ever notice that hole on the left side of the water pump beneath the lower bolt, thats the bypass hole its there to allow coolant to flow a lil constantly so that the pump doesnt just cavitate and just whip the water. if the thermostat is stuck open it should be takeing longer to warm up then normal. a thermostats job is to force an engine to get warm not to pop open and cool an engine like so many people think...

 

Exactly, a thermostat sets a minimum temperature for an engine, not a maximum.

 

thanks, that answers my ?. my lower rad hose feels soft, might this be my cooling issue? it seems to cool at idle, but at 2000 rpms and up it seems to have a hard time cooling down. and my air dam is in place.

 

What fan setup do you have? What do you mean by "has a hard time cooling down"?

 

i have my single fan wired through a relay to a toggle,at idle the fan will keep the coolant cool. but at cruisin speed (even with the fan on) the temp will keep rising, iv had it as warm as 250ish+ on the highway.

 

How about when you're cruising on the highway with the fan off?

 

same results as with the fan on.

 

with the engine running and in park with the parking brake on rev the motor from under the hood when its at full temp and watch the lower hose, it might be colapsing on itself. if so get the new hose with the coil in it so it cant colapse...

 

Does it bubble over the overlow tank when you stop the engine?

I would replace the thermostat just in case, they are cheap and I have had a good run of them fail in the closed position. If its stuck closed or opens at a much higher temperature, its doing you no good. (If you want to double check for a bad t-stat, boil a pot of water and get some thongs and hold it in there with the thongs. You need a thermometer to check the temperature)

Also, if you have a thermometer, put it directly into the radiator to verify the temperature that the gauge is showing. I have also had cheap coolant temp senders show much higher temperatures than actual temps.

Check your engine bay for leaks, make sure that you dont have a leaking radiator, hose or intake gasket. When you turn the engine off listen for a hissing noise and look for coolant bubbling out. If its hitting the 245-250 range it will be bubbling over in the overflow tank.

 

no coolant boiling over and no leaks, ill check the lower hose tomorrow(if its not too smokey outside)oh, by the way, california is on FIRE

 

PROBLEM SOLVED! (well...one of them). i let my car get up to temp,revved the engine to 2000-2500 from under the hood, looked at the lower hose and it flattened like a cobra. i took the hose off installed a spring from a old hose i had lying around. took it for a test drive and the temp didnt get over 190. befor the spring it would climb to 240+.