so my cars temp gauge has been below c when i drive.. so i thought it was stuck open, i go to change it and there wasnt even one in there.. well after i put 1 in.. my upper coolant hose feels like theres alot of pressure in it after shutting the car off and going to squeeze it.. as before it was empty/no pressure im guessing its normal right?

 

wait till the car cools down, take off the rad cap and then start the car. let it idle for a while with the rad cap off, sounds like you have air in the system. just let it idle and give the lower hose a few squeezes.

 

ill try that

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b_serious &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ill try that</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup, do that.

Did you "bleed" the system when you put in the new thermostat? You don't need to do a full coolant flush, but this is what you should do:
1. With the car off, remove the radiator cap and fill the radiator until the top.
2. Start the car and have it idle until the thermostat opens up/fans turn on.
3. Once the thermostat opens up, the coolant will now flow through the heater core. The coolant level in the radiator will drop. Fill it up to the top again. Cap off the radiator.
4. Turn off the car.
5. Fill up the coolant reservior tank up until the fill line.

 

i just did that and drove it around then came back and checked it.. it still has a little pressure in the upper hose but it wasnt as bad as last nite.. sound normal? ill be traveling to houst from austin this weekend with alot of driving threw the middle of no where.. and i dont wanna get stuck on the side of the road somwhere

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b_serious &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just did that and drove it around then came back and checked it.. it still has a little pressure in the upper hose but it wasnt as bad as last nite.. sound normal?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, there should be pressure in the system after you drive it. The system heats up a lot. After an hour or two of sitting, it should return to normal. Try squeezing it then and it should be relatively soft.

 

its been sitting for about 45 min now i think ill go try it

 

damn... why isnt my fan turning on.. the temp gauge is reading normal but the fans wont come on i let it sit for about 20-30 min

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b_serious &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">damn... why isnt my fan turning on.. the temp gauge is reading normal but the fans wont come on i let it sit for about 20-30 min </TD></TR></TABLE>

The fans won't turn on without the car being on. Is your car on?

If your car is on, perhaps you still didn't let it warm up enough. If the temperature gauge is normal, then the coolant temperature is still fine. Perhaps the temperature outside is cold enough not to require the fans to be on. 20-30 minutes is, however, a long time.

Did you bleed the system? How did the hoses feel afterwards, and after you let the car sit for an hour or so?

 

yeah i bleed it 3 times here's what i did


1, took cap off
2, started it and let it warm
3, waited for it to go down/bubbles stop coming up
4, filled it up shut it off
5, filled up the resv. tank

sound right? the temp gauge needle is just under half way mark where it should be i think, and when i put the thermo in i bleed it and started it then it smoked alot... white smoke from the exhaust but then it stopped after about 5 min and now it doesnt smoke at all