95 GSR block
Mishimoto radiator
oem hoses
autozone/duralast thermostat
OEM coolant temperature sensor

Notes:
ive been running the car without a thermostat for a while just changed it today
no over heating problems before that
temp guage on cluster has worked fine up until after thermostat install
coolant temp sensor worked fine last night thats the last time i dove it since thermostat install

PROBLEM:

decided to install Autozone/duralast thermostat
did it today thats the only thing i changed nothing else
i drove it about 5-8 miles then saw steam coming from the hood
quickly parked.
temp guage was reading below cold as if car was off. didnt think anything of it because its always taken a little while for the car to warm up since i didnt have a thermostat, but now that there was one in i was worried.
popped my hood saw that my upper heater hose(connected to top of radiator) was bulging way to much.. i think because of the back pressure since the thermostat wasnt allowing coolant to flow through

I took out the thermostat filled it up with coolant and it seemed to still smeam a little i think MAYBE from the coolant that got spilled everywhere.
When i checked my temp guage on my cluster it was still showing below cold even though my car had been on and i knkow for a fact the motor was warm if not hot

MY QUESTION:
What is going wrong or what might be the problem? and What can i do to fix this(overheating and guage cluster problem if there is one in the cluster)
What sends the signal to the cluster to tell the temperature guage to go up or down? is it the coolant temp sensor?

MY THOUGHTS:
maybe the thermostat i bought is bad and just wont open up (yes i put it in the correct way)
and for the cluster reading SUPER COLD maybe thats because my coolant temp sensor went bad out of nowhere?!!




AS OF 2/8/2011

NEW PROBLEM IS CODE P1298 ELECTRIC LOAD DETECTOR(ELD) HIGH CIRCUIT INPUT
HAD SOME WIRES FIXED AT A SHOP BUT NOW THIS CODE IS GETTING THROWN


SYMPTOMS:
car is dying/ shuts off
i put a brand new alternator in.. the battery was fully charged
drove it for 10 mins was fine the next morning drove it again and died right when i got to my friends house

WHAT CAN BE THE PROBLEM?
did the guy who wired it just mess up?

 

change the cap

 

why would the cap cause my upper heater hose to be expanding if its just the cap?
i havent had any problems with it before even when i drove the car last night there was no issue so the cap being the problem doesnt make sense

 

I say since you just installed that t-stat that its your problem, as per the temp needle the sensor is only like 25 bucks id swap that out before anything else.

 

I'd put an OEM thermostat in it and go from there.

 

could it be that since the thermostat was bad that it caused my coolant temp sensor to go bad too?

 

maybe, try removing the az t-stat and drive it like you used to (w/out 1) and seeif it goes back to normal then try an oem 1 like eg8 recommended

 

well i did remove the thermostat and it seemed to still be steaming idk if it was from the coolant that was spilled or if it was just over heating again because the temp guage cluster was still showing the engine was below cold even though i had been running it for a while..

 

could you explain to me the cycle in which the heating system works

i know that the car starts with the thermostat closed then once it reaches about 165-170 it opens up to let the coolant flow through

what tells the temp guage in the cluster how high the needle should go? is it the coolant temp sensor?

what sensor tells the fan to turn on once the motor is running at the temperature that needs the fan to be on?

 

coolant temp sensor is what drives the needle to move it sits right under the distributor it has a single wire running to it should be easy to spot. the rad fan switch tells the fan to kick on its on the t-stat housing its a disconnect with 2 wires running to it.

 

so the sensor that is on the housing is for the fans to turn on..
i thought that was the coolant temp switch that tells the temperature gauge needle where to be at
thanks for the help i have a lot of stuff to try for tomo

 

no problem let us know what happens

 

prob normal. put tstat in boiling water see if it opens. never seen a defective tstat brand new

steam was prob because u spilled water from changing it. bulge was prob because the hose was old. feel lower radiator hose to see if it gets warm if it does ur tstat is working properly
dont run the car without one

 

yeah i gotta try the thermostat in hot water

both hoses got hot i felt them just to make sure.
my friend said the upper hose bulged because it wasnt able to circular the water through the thermostat..

idk im going to test a couple things tomo hopefully i fix it so i dont have to take it to a shop

ill keep you guys posted

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE HELP GUYS

 

hoses shouldnt bulge under any circumstance so id say you have a hose about to go as well. dumb question but is the thermostat installed in the correct way? also did you bleed the coolant system after you installed t-stat? the temp sensor may not be reading anything if their is air in the way due to not bleeding the system. air in lines can cause car to overheat..
1st i would pull tstat drop in boiling water to see if its working.
2nd if its working then id reinstall it but make sure its in the proper direction of flow.
3rd change the hose that bulged and
4th reconnect everything and bleed the system. after all is done take it for a drive and see if problem persists.
adam jeffery

 

Correct.

I figure you just got a bad thermostat out of the box, hey it happens sometimes that new parts are bad right out of the box. As far as coolant being spilled when changing the thermostat and burning off, that's something I hadn't thought of, but possible.

 

As farfrumugen says, my guess too would be that the thermostat may have been installed backwards/incorrectly and the cooling system was not bled after installation of the thermostat.

 

change the cappp??? how your you put it in backwards lol

 

New parts can be bad. Remember, puppies die too. If both hoses were warm though, it sounds like the t-stat was working.

 

also tstat wont work regardless if theirs no pressure or the system has too much air
your car will overheat if there is any air in the system

 

Ok so yesterday I spent all day on it.
I tested the thermostat and at 165 in boiling water it opened up
I inspected the wiring and found the single wore that sends the signal to my temp gauge cluster was hard and had broken I replaced that and other wires around it that needed fixing
I put the thermostat back in ( the correct way) and bleed the coolant.
Again the upper hose started to bulge The lower heater hose was cold no coolant was flowing through it.
Now for some reason I'm throwing a code P1298 which is something with electrical or fuses and my battery is dying now.

I took out my thermostat since it wasn't working and that's when I found the battery problem. Seems that the water was flowing through the lower heater hose

Let me know what you guys thing is going on

Note: electrical was done by an electrical shop not me

 

up

 

bump for Ryan

 

Ttt

 

Took it to a shop so they can fix a couple wires such as the wired that broke for my temp guage..
now im throwing a P1298 and ive researched this code and no one seems to have a good way of spotting this problem and fixing it.. can anyone help???