No coolant circulation at all...
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,261
Likes: 4
From: Middle River MD
No coolant circulation at all...
My 89 just about overheated on me the other day. Luckily I was just pulling into the garage at the time. I know that my radiator has been leaking for the last year but not too bad. I figured maybe the leak got much worse and this was simply caused by loss of coolant. Well to my surprise I had plently of coolant but there was no circulation at all. I see no evidence of any leakage from the weep hole on the w.p.
So I pulled the thermostat thinking it must have been stuck closed and when I tested it on the stove it did open. So I'm guessing the w.p. is shot. Does a pump have to weep for it to be bad??
Lastly I've never swapped one of these while the engine was in the car. It looks like it may a PIA. What exactly has to come off to get it out??
TIA
So I pulled the thermostat thinking it must have been stuck closed and when I tested it on the stove it did open. So I'm guessing the w.p. is shot. Does a pump have to weep for it to be bad??
Lastly I've never swapped one of these while the engine was in the car. It looks like it may a PIA. What exactly has to come off to get it out??
TIA
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,306
Likes: 242
From: Summerland B.C. Canada
I've never seen an impeller fail, other than rubber ones. Not ruling it out, just never seen one.
Have you re-installed the stat and looked again ? Any collapsed hoses ??
As for pump removal http://members.shaw.ca/agent86/Water%20Pump.pdf
Have you re-installed the stat and looked again ? Any collapsed hoses ??
As for pump removal http://members.shaw.ca/agent86/Water%20Pump.pdf
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,328
Likes: 14
From: Stafford Connecticut
Thermostats can work intermittently,open sometimes, sometimes not.As Agent86 says maybe a collapsed hose.But if your radiator is leaking there is no since in wasting your time ,you need a new radiator and thermostat .Don't waste time and money on radiator stop leak products they will clog your radiator and your heater core and just make things worse.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,261
Likes: 4
From: Middle River MD
Well the thermostat (180) is fairly new...however while testing it on the stove it didn't actually open until the water was boiling. I did not have a therm to see actual temp but I'm guessing the h2o was at least 200 or more before it opened. I have not reinstalled yet. Obviously I'll replace it anyway, just not convinced the stat is at fault here. I will double check hoses, but I believe they are fine as they are also fairly new. Thanks guys.
Racer
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 426
Likes: 16
From: Concord CA
A failing water pump will usually still pump water as long as the impeller is still connected to the pump and belts. If you have even a small leak, It can cause over heating. Were your Fan operating ?
As you stated, replace the T-Stat, they are cheap enough to do so as long as you yave it out.
What about Anti-Freeze, maybe flush the sytem and add fresh Water and anti-freeze. Don't forget to make sure you don't get a air pocket in the system.
Being almost a 20 years old car, it might be a good time to replace all of the hose, both for a piece of mind and getting a fresh detailed look to the engine bay.
Check the front of the Radiator to make sure there are no junk in front of the radiator that would block the air flow.
As you stated, replace the T-Stat, they are cheap enough to do so as long as you yave it out.
What about Anti-Freeze, maybe flush the sytem and add fresh Water and anti-freeze. Don't forget to make sure you don't get a air pocket in the system.
Being almost a 20 years old car, it might be a good time to replace all of the hose, both for a piece of mind and getting a fresh detailed look to the engine bay.
Check the front of the Radiator to make sure there are no junk in front of the radiator that would block the air flow.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,261
Likes: 4
From: Middle River MD
A failing water pump will usually still pump water as long as the impeller is still connected to the pump and belts. If you have even a small leak, It can cause over heating. Were your Fan operating ?
As you stated, replace the T-Stat, they are cheap enough to do so as long as you yave it out.
What about Anti-Freeze, maybe flush the sytem and add fresh Water and anti-freeze. Don't forget to make sure you don't get a air pocket in the system.
Being almost a 20 years old car, it might be a good time to replace all of the hose, both for a piece of mind and getting a fresh detailed look to the engine bay.
Check the front of the Radiator to make sure there are no junk in front of the radiator that would block the air flow.
As you stated, replace the T-Stat, they are cheap enough to do so as long as you yave it out.
What about Anti-Freeze, maybe flush the sytem and add fresh Water and anti-freeze. Don't forget to make sure you don't get a air pocket in the system.
Being almost a 20 years old car, it might be a good time to replace all of the hose, both for a piece of mind and getting a fresh detailed look to the engine bay.
Check the front of the Radiator to make sure there are no junk in front of the radiator that would block the air flow.
I see no leaking anywhere around the w.p. ...totally dry. I went out a while ago to inspect the hoses again and they show no sign of collapse.
Since you brought up the cooling fan, I forgot to mention that the fan is not coming on. I'm sure you are thinking this is my overheating problem but I know its not. There is simply no circulation of coolant at all. It may be a coincidence that the fan broke at the same time, I don't know. It worked fine until now. That is a separate issue and I know the car will overheat if that isn't fixed as well. My main concern is fixing the lack of circulation for now. I'm going to grab a new stat and slap it on and go from there.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,261
Likes: 4
From: Middle River MD
I Must Confess
Guys as painful as it is to admit this, I feel I owe it to you for your help...That coolant leak was a lot worse than I thought. I put everything back together except I left the stat out to see if there was flow. It flowed alright but I had to add about 2 gallons of coolant! What happened was what I think is called vapor lock? Although there was coolant in the rad, there was none in the engine to open the stat. This also explains why the fan didn't come on...there was no coolant in the head to get a temp reading. Anyhow, all is well now coolant flowing fan working, but one hell of a leak in the rad. Garage floor soaked after5 minutes of running. Oh well another lesson learned:o
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,775
Likes: 125
From: Birmingham AL
Yes, air can get trapped in the system on these cars. It is best to lift the front of the car so that the radiator neck is above the intake when filling with coolant. That will help to get the air out. This applies to '84-'89 cars. '90 and up have the surge tank for filling.
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Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,261
Likes: 4
From: Middle River MD
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2007
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From: port charlotte fl
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,614
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From: Davis CA
About the direct fit all aluminum radiators.
The one I saw had about 10% fewer tubes (30 instead of 33 I think) and also about 10% fewer folds per inch for the fin material. And when I purchased mine, the seller was using the photo of a Tom DeWitt radiator -- a high quality product. I think that the use of someone else's product might have been corrected. Has anyone else bought one and counted tubes and folds? And one last thing, my money has not been returned even though the radiator was mailed back on Jan. 3. I trust that this will be corrected.
I assume that the cheap all aluminum radiator will meet OEM spec, but I decided to stay original.
The one I saw had about 10% fewer tubes (30 instead of 33 I think) and also about 10% fewer folds per inch for the fin material. And when I purchased mine, the seller was using the photo of a Tom DeWitt radiator -- a high quality product. I think that the use of someone else's product might have been corrected. Has anyone else bought one and counted tubes and folds? And one last thing, my money has not been returned even though the radiator was mailed back on Jan. 3. I trust that this will be corrected.
I assume that the cheap all aluminum radiator will meet OEM spec, but I decided to stay original.