*** guys all i have had are probs with my car since buying it. Well there was a little antifreeze leak up by were the thermostat is. So me and my bud repalced it with a new gasket, seal, and 180degree thermo. Now in the car there are too switches one i was told is for the fan and the one below i dont know what it is for. Now with the new thermo the car gets up to almost 255 degrees and if i mess with the switch the fans come on for a bit then start to overheat so i have to keep messing with them. What do i do? should i take it to the local shop or what? please help guys!!!!

 

Are you sure the new thermostat is opening? When the car warms up try to squeeze the upper radiator hose. You will be able to tell if the coolant is going through it.

 

You didn't put the thermostat in upside down did you? The side that has the point on it goes up. You put the thermo in, then the gasket, then clamp it all down like that. You could have bought a defective thermostat. Where did you get it? Don't use one of the Auto Zone ones or some other house brand thermo. If you have it in there upside down, your engine will overheat. You have enough coolant in there right? If you're going down the road, your forward motion should be enough to keep the engine cool without the fans having to come on. But you definately want to get your fan problem fixed! You don't want to be stuck in traffic in the summer and not have your fans kick on! Bad news! Matt

 

well how would the thermo not be opening? yes i bougth the 5.99 thermo from autozone. It guranteed and oem approved the best one they had.i dont really want to take the hole thing apart again and buy another gasket and seal and sealent. Is there anyway to test this and how come the fans kick on when i mess withthis switch. Befre i jsut always left them off and the thermo would kick the fan on and it would stay at a constant 220 now its goin over. if i bring this to the local aout place would they be able to fix it u think or should i try myslef

 

Refer to above two suggestions. If you can't feel the heat and pressure in the top hose, it's either defective and not opening, or in upside down. It will cost you at least $50 to have a shop change it for you.

 

Well the thermo must be opening because there is alot of heat in the hose its almost too hot to touch though is this normal? and the clamp where the hose runs onto the wateer neck is tightened extremely tight would this affect anything.

 

I'd be just a tad worried if the clamp was too tight..if the hose rubber is old and the clamp is really really tight, and there's enough pressure in the hose...I figure at the clamped point, the hose can split and guzzle your coolant out.

 

I had an overheating problem not too long ago... Dont know if this helps but here is my 2 cents...lol

I was fiddling with the bottom hose one time and noticed that the fan was running. Somehow I got my elbow stuck up against the fan and it stopped. I got some bravery up after gettin my elbow out and just put my hand against the fan. It wasnt really blowing. It was blowing just enough to feel but not enough to really cool the car. I replaced the motor on the fan and presto I had a cool car again. After some more tweaking my car wont go over 160 degrees. I added a 160 stat, adjustable therm, and even though I thought i didnt really need a water pump there it was with the rusted drip hole. so over all my car needed some serious attention...

hope this helps at least a little bit