YACT

[DrPizza]

Ford Escort
Had the head gasket and head replaced a few months ago... mechanic said it had overheated which caused the problem.
Seemed to be still overheating... engine on for a while, radiator hoses still cool. But, the problem was intermittent.

I replaced the thermostat (and was so proud of myself for figuring that one out on my own)

Problem seemed decrease in frequency.

But, now that it's cold out, the engine temp goes up 4/5 of the way on the gauge... (not in the red, but up there) Also, it takes forever for it to heat up - it barely heats up, where as before it heated up quickly.

Ideas?? Is there a sensor that turns on the water pump? (in addition to the thermostat?)

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Ideas?? Is there a sensor that turns on the water pump? (in addition to the thermostat?)

No, the pump turns all the time. Maybe the radiator itself or the coolant passages in the motor are clogged. Did they flush the cooling system when they replaced the head?

 

[SuperPickle]

Have you had your cooling system flushed recently, or ever? When you say it takes forever for it to heat up, I'm assuming you speak of the interior heater. Common cause of that is a plugged up heatercore. There are flush kits you can buy for less than $10 to flush the cooling system yourself, but I wouldn't think it would cost just too much to have it done professionally.

FWIW - I'm no car expert, just a cheapass that does some of his own work to save some change.

 

[Pepsi90919]

thermostat

 

[CrackRabbit]

You may have air trapped in the system from when you changed the thermostat, try putting the car up on jackstands and running it with the radiatior cap off and see if it burps any air out.

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
You may have air trapped in the system from when you changed the thermostat, try putting the car up on jackstands and running it with the radiatior cap off and see if it burps any air out.

That's a good point, although I'm not sure why you'd need to put the car on jackstands to take off the radiator cap.

 

[DrPizza]

Flushed the radiator myself when I changed the thermostat. At the time, I was hitting the simple solutions that I figured most garages would attempt before looking for something else. Everything seemed fine for a while, until this recent cold spell.

 

[nakedfrog]

I don't know much about water-cooled engines, so I'm gonna say it's something with your heater core.

 

[Analog]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
You may have air trapped in the system from when you changed the thermostat, try putting the car up on jackstands and running it with the radiatior cap off and see if it burps any air out.

That's a good point, although I'm not sure why you'd need to put the car on jackstands to take off the radiator cap.

Jacking the car up tilts it enough (I guess) so that the air bubble goes to the highest point. The air bubble thing is probably a good idea, you might have to burp it.

 

[DrPizza]

Hey.... it's worth a shot. Any other ideas?

 

[TechnoKid]

heh...make sure the fan is blowing air in the right direction, thats of which may vary for your car. (someones gotta know if they are suppsed to suck or blow.) Also make sure you check the freezing point of your coolant, it may be off, though this would have little to do with the temp gauge being at 4/5 on a cold day.

When you say heat up, do you mean on the temp gauge or getting heat through the heater core? Make sure when you bleed air from the system, to have the heater core open all the way (turn the heater inside to the highest).

You could have also had a bad (new) thermostat, it can happen.