With my last few threads it was about cooling system issues air in the system. So today I went to another mechanic who said they will bleed the system. I went there he opened the crossover cap put some anti freeze in but the coolant bottle was nearly full and it over filled a little. So he also used a temp gun and the number readings were all within range. The engine was at 200. One side of the raditor was 200 the other side was 100 he said that was normal for the air to go from side to side. At that point the car was at the O range on the temp gauge the cooling fan was on as well. So he thinks the temp gauge needle is not working. On my way home the temp needle went to N but didn't go any higher. Even though I have new ect and ct sensors can my temp needle gauge be broke?
So I am back
- Thread starter Abbens
- Start date
NoLimit95
Dedicated LVC Member
Start the car without the air on while the engine is at the 0 mark and see if the fan is on. If yours was at 0 and the fan was running, most likely, your air conditioner was on. Your gauge sounds normal to me. If air was in the system, it would be reading hot and over heating.
Go Fast Get Tickets
Dedicated LVC Member
How did this mechanic bleed the air? Just because he took the crossover cap off and put some water in doesn't bleed the system. Have you tried to bleed it yourself?
Has it always done this? Did you replace pump, therostat, hose or open the system in any way and now it's doing it?
Has it always done this? Did you replace pump, therostat, hose or open the system in any way and now it's doing it?
Sapperfire
Dedicated LVC Member
If that's all the "mechanic" did, he did not follow proper coolant bleeding procedures
That is all the mechanic did. He opened the crossover cap added some fluid, the coolant bubbled over the over flow bottle. Then he said I most likey have a bad temp gauge on the instrument cluster. I drove the car today and it drove normal the only issue was the temp gauge it just goes up to N and stays there.
Psychostang
Dedicated LVC Member
When he filled the crossover tube, was the overflow bottle cap on or off?
The car doesnt make any noise when I turn it off.
Both caps were off. He wanted to put the coolant in bottle but I said he has to remove the cap. He thought the crossover cap was broke he said there isnt any nut in the bleeder screw. I said no you need a 1/4 wrench of vice grips. He used a small vice grip and got it right off. Thats when he added a little and it came out of the bottle. Since I drove there the coolant also rose to the top of the bottle.
mikemark8
Well-Known LVC Member
you need to bleed it yourself-if you drove it somewhere to have it looked at, it was probably hot or very warm when he removed the coolant cap-it needs to be cold when you remove the crossover cap, and the nose of the car needs to be as high as you can reasonably get it-some people jack up the front of the car, I have never had the need to do this. The overflow tank needs to the full line, cap on, and fill it at the crossover tube until it dribbles out of the opening(rag underneath to catch overflow). Start it up, and if there is air in it, when it warms up and the thermostat opens, you will suddenly see little or no coolant running through the tube-this is when you carefully top it off and close it up.
While your temp gauge in running at the top of the 'normal' range, if it is considerably higher than it used to be, it either has air in the system, the thermostat for whatever reason is not working properly, it is an engine tune issue (meaning components) or you have an internal leak like a head gasket or worse.
Does the cooling system hold pressure? It needs to be checked-when hot you should not be able to collapse the top radiator hose. Does it run good? If it feels sluggish, has a miss or you see smoke coming out the exhaust, that's not good-a car that runs badly will run hot because the engine is working hard to move around 2 tons with diminished resources. If it is OBDII, you can hook up a scanner that does PID's and actually read the engine temperature in real time to see if it's just your gauge.
From my experience, with the AC off the fan comes on at 215 and shuts off at around 200. On my 96, that means it generally runs from a high 'A' to a low 'O' on a plus 85 degree day. When it is cooler outside it does run cooler and usually never above 'A", because I have a 160 thermostat. On a very hot day, say above 95, mine has gotten to high 'o', but I have seen this on my scanner as about 223 degrees-and the fan goes from low speed to high speed around here and it will quickly drop down to around 205. If you are getting a consistent gauge there isn't much chance there is air in the system, and if it's high all the time it is because of something else like thermostat, fan or fan controller (VCRM), needed tune up parts (plugs, wires, emission controls) or internal engine issue like head gasket...hope this helps, you first have to be certain though there is no air in the system.
While your temp gauge in running at the top of the 'normal' range, if it is considerably higher than it used to be, it either has air in the system, the thermostat for whatever reason is not working properly, it is an engine tune issue (meaning components) or you have an internal leak like a head gasket or worse.
Does the cooling system hold pressure? It needs to be checked-when hot you should not be able to collapse the top radiator hose. Does it run good? If it feels sluggish, has a miss or you see smoke coming out the exhaust, that's not good-a car that runs badly will run hot because the engine is working hard to move around 2 tons with diminished resources. If it is OBDII, you can hook up a scanner that does PID's and actually read the engine temperature in real time to see if it's just your gauge.
From my experience, with the AC off the fan comes on at 215 and shuts off at around 200. On my 96, that means it generally runs from a high 'A' to a low 'O' on a plus 85 degree day. When it is cooler outside it does run cooler and usually never above 'A", because I have a 160 thermostat. On a very hot day, say above 95, mine has gotten to high 'o', but I have seen this on my scanner as about 223 degrees-and the fan goes from low speed to high speed around here and it will quickly drop down to around 205. If you are getting a consistent gauge there isn't much chance there is air in the system, and if it's high all the time it is because of something else like thermostat, fan or fan controller (VCRM), needed tune up parts (plugs, wires, emission controls) or internal engine issue like head gasket...hope this helps, you first have to be certain though there is no air in the system.
Thanks for the good advice. The car runs the same as it did before the serp belt broke. Only issue is now the temp gauge goes to the N. I drove today on the highway and it drove just fine the temp gauge didnt even move on the highway.