Alright, this is what happened. I'm picking up some food at this place and I get into my car and accidently rev the car extremly high. I didn't think anything of it into a start driving off and steem starts coming out of my hood. I pull over and see my resivour bubbling coolant out and steem is coming out. My engine temperature is very high. I had to get home and while driving the temp would stay a little bit cooler but not much and when I would stop at my first stoplight, it began to rise but as soon as i got going it going a little bit. The suggestion is that the theromstat is stuck closed so the right temperature is not getting through. *Note* there is no more fluid in the resivour right now.

1. If this is the problem, let me know or if someone thinks it's something else let me know.

2. How to change the thermostat on a VG?

3. How hard is it?

Let me know asap, I need my car for work

 

I had the same thing happen. It's not hard to change out the thermostat. I figured it out with a haynes book from autozone.

Looking at the engine bay. The readiator hose on top is to the left. Follow that back and it'll go into a housing, and at the bottom of that housing there is another SHORT hose that connects to the thermostat housing. Take off the radiator and that short hose.

the thermostat housing has 4 bolts. Their kind of dificult to take out becasue of the location.

Simply remove the therm. housing and put in the new thermostat. The thermostat should have a mark of some sort to make sure you put it that side up.

I tried some RTV sealant and it leak, I got a paper gasket and it hasn't leaked at all.

Oh, make sure you torgue it the bolts at like 15-18 pounds.

 

when the engine was HOT...were the fans spinning?

 

sounds like poor airflow to me too.

 

You know, someone else asked me that and I didn't get a chance too look at them, but since my car overheated earlier today, it seems to be alright right now with more fluid in the radiator and no highway driving. What's up?

 

Only time my coolant in the resevoir ever boiled like that was when my rad fan fuse (not relay) blew. I've had bad thermostats and the coolant never boiled on me (not saying it can't happen tho). I'd check your rad fan electrical connections first, then the fuse, then your relay. If that fails and you have to replace the thermostat, it's not that difficult (as stated above) - just make sure you use a gasket (sold seperately from the thermostat).

 

before you start pulling out relays and etc...wiggle the temp sensor...one wire w/ a boot on it. it's right by the upper coolant hose (engine side)....or was it the 2 wire one that looks like the injector plug....check both. LOL

if the fans move when you move the plug and the motor is hot then you just have a bad connection.

for the thermostat...i used RTV. if that's what they used at the factory..why not.

 

Yeah, there's no reason why RTV won't work better than a gasket. Just follow the steps they show in the repair manual or FSM and put a nice bead of blue RTV sealant up there and it will never leak if you do it right.

But before you change the Tstat, just make sure you have plenty of coolant in your system. Then, check the fans. If they don't run, you will overheat in these summer months very quickly even if your coolant is topped off.

It's possible for a Tstat to fail when it's closed. But in all my experience with several cars, they always fail when they are open. But I have heard of them failing when they are closed, especially if it's a cheap aftermarket Tstat. A Tstat is always a good thing to change if you have more than 80K miles on your car. Mine noticably failed at 95K miles when it stuck open and I drove the car in 10 degree temps and the motor and tranny wouldn't run at operating temp. Not good!

 

Yeah, i'm going to check to the fans to make sure they're coming on. I did check the relay box where there are the 3 rad. fans and if that's were they relays which are the plugs, all 3 of them were good.

When I got home yesterday after the whole ordeal (*spelling*), I let the car cool down and looked in the radiator which was pretty dry and which was the resavoiur as well and so I filled it up and I drove it a little bit later last night. I didn't drive it too hard (35mph-40mph) plus frequent stoplights and it stayed at the same temperature where it usually is. I was afraid to take it on the freeway because I'm not quite sure what's going to happen

In case something does happen and I get high temp. again and lose fluid again...I've got some water in the car.

 

whatever you do just be careful with adding cool coolant to an over heated motor. bad things can happen.

 

Yea, very true. I always wait for cool down as long as possible.

Was I correct on the location of the relays and checking them?

 

I drove it for about 15 mins and the temp. started to rise a little bit so when I got to my friends work, I checked out the fans and they weren't running. I let it sit while I ate lunch and then drove it back home which is a 10-15min drive and I opened the hood up to see if there is any movement in the fans and there is none at all. Now, I don't know if the engine or outside conditions have to be a certain temp. or if you need to be driving a certain speed, but I'm letting it idle in my garage right now and I have to see to the fans come on

.....kind of a rough idle too, but it's been like for some time now

*edit

I went outside to check again and the fans came on for just a minute or two and then shut off, but the temperature was 3/4 the way to the top of the engine temperature gauge.

 

Went to this website:

Symptons of a bad thermostat

and here is the next page of the website that contains the right thermostats.
Out of them, which one do I want (1-6)?

List of thermostats

 

These links are also bad.

 

Think it might have anything to do with the fact that you dug up a 7 year old thread?

 

its not that hard to fix. and it does sound like a bad air flow