overheating woes

[Claydart]

Well first, let me say that I feel pretty stupid! I should have listened to.........Get this.....My wife! She has been saying this all along through my mis-adventures, that I need to replace my thermostat! I kept telling her that it was brand new and didn't need to be replaced. So I changed the pulley on the crank, I put a spacer on my fan to get it closer to my radiator, and I got myself a new 6 blade fan. Well all of those things that I did were probably a help, but today I actually removed said thermostat and put it in a pan of boiling water just to prove her wrong. Well, guess what? Yup, it did not work! So I took my red face out to my truck and went to the parts store and bought a new stat. Came home and installed it in the car and proceeded to drive the thing around for about an hour. And you know what, it did not even get to the first tick mark on the gauge! so I let it idle in the driveway for another 40 minutes and it finally got some heat out of the heater! So the next time my wife says that I should try something, guess what.........I probably still wont listen! Hahahahahahahaha PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!

 

[dano]

Sounds like it's too cold now? 40 Min. for heat seems like a long time.

 

[famous bob]

Sounds like it's too cold now? 40 Min. for heat seems like a long time.

agree, don`t sound like its getting hot enough now.
I have been lucky I guess, I`ve never had a thermostat that failed , new or otherwise .

 

[TrailBeast]

agree, don`t sound like its getting hot enough now.
I have been lucky I guess, I`ve never had a thermostat that failed , new or otherwise .

Well that would be two of us as I have never had one fail either, but I know plenty that have.

 

[AJ/FormS]

I've had a couple.
But worse was when the coolant gelled in the rad one cold frosty Saturday night,while we were partying.
When it was time to go home,I went out ,set the automatic choke, cranked her up, and went back inside. A little while later, I noticed steam coming out from under the hood. Hyup she was boiling the coolant inside the engine and none was going thru the rad. So there I was pulling the rad out, at 30 below,coming out of my drunken stupor, with a huge pounding hangover, and three screaming babies inside who just wanted to go home.
It thawed out Ok no damage. A few hours later, or maybe it was in the morning, I can't recall exactly,lol, we were on the way home.
I hate cold-snaps,lol.
That same rad is in my 367 today.

 

[famous bob]

I've had a couple.
But worse was when the coolant gelled in the rad one cold frosty Saturday night,while we were partying.
When it was time to go home,I went out ,set the automatic choke, cranked her up, and went back inside. A little while later, I noticed steam coming out from under the hood. Hyup she was boiling the coolant inside the engine and none was going thru the rad. So there I was pulling the rad out, at 30 below,coming out of my drunken stupor, with a huge pounding hangover, and three screaming babies inside who just wanted to go home.
It thawed out Ok no damage. A few hours later, or maybe it was in the morning, I can't recall exactly,lol, we were on the way home.
I hate cold-snaps,lol.
That same rad is in my 367 today.

That would be a ***** ! Talk about cold snaps, it 17 outside , only got up to freezing yesterday-----------

 

[BillGrissom]

When a kid, around 1967 our ~1963 Valiant wagon slant-six over-heated on the interstate, west of Jax, FL. Some road workers were taking a break and one walked over to help. After re-filling water, he watched in the radiator fill cap and said "no flow, T-stat must be stuck". Removed it in a few minutes and found it jammed shut. Said, "don't need one in Florida" and put the housing back w/o it. Not sure how the gasket still worked, but no leaks and no further problems. Despite what people think, most men in those days didn't know much about cars and rarely even opened the hood. Gas station attendants would look under the hood and add oil (dripping it all over the engine too). My dad later tried to fix things, but was too cheap to buy the right tools and new parts, and rubber bands and duct tape doesn't work long.

My other T-stat failures: I noticed my 1996 Voyager 2.4L ran too cold in the winter and putting cardboard in front of the radiator made it warmer. I found the T-stat was open since the spring stirrup had come apart. Another, my 1984 M-B diesel was running cold in winter (60 C, should be 82 C). I tested the T-stat in a pot of water and seemed to work fine, but went further and used a thermometer, IR gun, and compared to a Mopar one and new M-B T-stat. I found it opened slightly too soon and responded too sluggishly to temperature. With the new one, the engine ran at exactly 82 C winter and summer, and gave a little better mileage. Thus, a quick check doesn't always verify a T-stat. BTW, most Euro car T-stats are different. They regulate the water pump inlet, and simultaneously close a bypass port (bypasses radiator), so the T-stat's are like an alien w/ inner and outer disks.

 

[moparmat2000]

Yep. My T stat on my 2008 HHR failed open this winter as well. Engine temp is supposed ro run about 195°-200° it always used to get up to temp real quick. I could get the defroster to work before going the 6 blocks to get out of my neighborhood. This winter i would get to work and the temp would be about 145° yep stuck open T stat. Replaced that, and temps back to normal.