Over Heating problems

[kruddler]

My car continually runs hot when the weather is warm. All winter I had no problems but when the temp gets to be about 60 problems start occuring. I removed the thermistat and drove and it still would overheat. The fan also kicks on. I can hear it running sometimes when I shut the car off. I'm thinking it might be time for a new radiator.

[A20A1]

Never run without the thermostat, your motor wont cool properly... how is your water pump belt tension and how old is your water pump?

[kruddler]

Some people have told me it might be the water pump. I just dont understand how it can possibly wear out if it's not leaking. If it were about to sieze up it should have happend a long time ago since it has been doing this for about two years now. The fins that push the coolant thru are not going to wear down. So I'm thinking the water pump is fine. It is about 5 years old and is not leaking and the belt tension is fine.

[HondaBoy]

its quite possible you either have a blockage somewhere in your cooling system or an air pocket. its more likely some sort of air pocket. this is sometimes cause because of inproper coolant filling. if it has been done wrong and air pocket will block flow of fluid. maybe thats all it is. if your good with working on cars you ought to try flushing the system and refilling it. also you need to bleed the system of air by way of those little bleed screws.

[shepherd79]

i am going with dirty system. you may want to flush your system out.
you can buy special stuff that will help to flush your cooling system. you can get it at any autoparts store and it made by prestone. make sure you get some flush system chemical. it will help to loosen up some dirt.
i have done it on my car and you won't believe how much crap comes out.

after you do first flush. run the car with some fluch chemical. this will help loosen up dirt even more. flush your motor at least 3 times. always make sure you have proper cooling mixture.

[grsmnky33]

I have replaced many water pumps on cars that the fins inside the pump simply corroded away......... lack of maintenance for the most part. What color is the water in your radiator, and does your overflow bottle actually hold water?

[86 barnstormer]

your radiator may be stopped up, take it to a radiator shop and have them rod it out.

if it's running hot when driving and idling then most likely it is..

use cascade to flush the engine if it needs it, cascade won't sud up and it's gritty. just make sure to disconnect the upper and lower hoses.

[kruddler]

I did a chemical flush of the radiator this weekend. Hopefully that works, because a new radiator is $160. I wont know until it gets hot out again.

[shepherd79]

you can get radiators cheap on ebay.

[k-roy]

You can get radiators for $100 and water pumps for $25. I made a thread in the HOWTO forum explaining the water pump replacement. There is also a thread about proper bleeding of the cooling system. Try that first along with removing and inspecting all the hoses and clamps, you may have a small crack somewhere that is sucking in some air. I found that out after replacing my pump. One thing I noticed is the new pump has an improved impeller design over the original one from back in the 80s.

[AccordEpicenter]

check your radiator then water pump. If the radiator starts losing the aluminum fins then itll run very hot

[kruddler]

It got up to 90 today and the fucker is still over-heating. The flush did not work. When it starts to get hot I can turn the heater on full blast and it drops the temperature down to the normal range. Is there any way I can be sure the problem is the radiator before I needlessly spend what little money I have?