So I put a new radiator in 2 weeks ago. I bled the system for over an hour to get the air out. Heat was hot and working fine. Yesterday it froze again and light lair of snow. and I had my car warm up for 10 minutes, longer then i normally do. And even all the way to work, the air never got hot hot like it normaly does.

Im wondering if I put too much water, per anti freeze, and the water is borderline freezing because its so cold out, and making it take forever to get super hot? I will bleed the system again to make sure I got all the air out.

 

- if your anti freeze "froze" you wouldn't be driving.
- why did you change the radiator?
- perhaps your t-stat is stuck/frozen/clogged?
- it shouldn't take you over an hour to bleed the system.
- did you flush the heater core?

 

Why did you need to change your radiator?

IMO either;

-you still have air in the cooling system or

-your thermostat is stuck open.

 

did you fill the overflow tankproprly before warming the car up the first time? if not you might have sucked air back in when the car cooled down.

 

The radiator had a crack in it. So I replaced that and the hoses. I bled system for over an hour.

Yes the resevoir tank was properly filled and no air could of got sucked back in. I replaced the thermostat about 4-5 years ago when i had my jdm motor put in.

I don't know how to flush the heater core

Ill have to try and jack the car up higher and let it bleed some more, see if maybe theres more air in it.

 

if the 2nd bleeding doesn't work, mebbe put a new tstat in, and also maybe a new radiator cap (if the one you have is a couple years old)

 

the radiator cap is at least 5 years old, im guessing 8+ im pretty sure the guy i bought it from never changed that. What t-stat temp should I get? and what pressure cap? If I need to do those. Thanks

 

13psi and i forget if the stock tstat is 170 or 180.... the parts store will be able to look it up. they probably have to look the tstat up anyhow, i don't think tstats are universal fit.

 

get an OEM t-stat, skip the aftermarket one. you will pay a few dollars more, but it is a better piece.

 

QFT.

 

gotcha.. i didnt know the rundown of what to buy OEM and what to get from parts stores when i had my stuff done.. so i had an autozone tstat in my car... I don't know what goon put in the engine i have now tho. I'd trust that he would have only used the best, since he was originally gonna use that motor himself.

 

I think you might need this.

http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main...products_id=35

 

nupe. there is something wrong, and it needs to be fixed. that will cause more problems at this point.

 

As everyone said, sounds like your thermostat is stuck open. You can actually notice it more when you're on the highway, lets say you're temp gauge is in the middle and you speed up; you might notice the needle drop to C and the heat get cooler.

I would purchase the thermostat at the dealership, I paid 18 bucks after taxes for mine back in 2007. It'll be a night and day difference as to how quick your car warms up and how fast you get heat.


Oh and I suggest to stay away from full strength coolant unless you get it mixed right, it may be more economical to mix it yourself but keep in mind that if you use tap water, it will most likely cause corrosion in your radiatiator causing a clog. Just spend a couple bucks more on 50/50 and dont have to deal with mixing it

 

That was a joke.

I never diluted my antifreeze though. At least I can't remember I did. Think I just put a couple jugs in without adding water.

 

what kind of engine do you have? On my VG there is a plug on the top of my intake manifold to bleed the air out.

 

yea but that's only for the initial fill-up... you have to close it once the car is running.. the actuall bleed-out happens via the radiator fill hole. My heater hose exploded when i was at Greeny's house last month, and a buttload of my coolant escaped as steam, so we had to fix that, and put in a bunch of coolant, then we bled it. My car was barely even on a hill (just on greeny's big 'ol jack) and my heat was strong all the way home. Then again, I have that upper bleeder thingybypassed on mine (bypassed UIM and TB), which I somehow think might make the car EASIER to bleed. Whereas on his wife's (now his?) GXE, he had to bleed and bleed and bleed on a 40% grade in his yard before he had any heat. Just something to think about.

 

I had the same problem with my 93 gxe when I first bought it! It took so long for the engine to warm up on cold day, then when i was at a stop light, the needle would stay in the middle and I would feel heat. When I was driving down the highway, the needle would go all the way down to cold, and i would feel no heat! Seem that the thermostat was stuck open! I replaced it, and didn't have any problems with heat! Well at least until I hit 209,000 miles and my heater core started leaking and fogging the windows up. Looks like a dreadful repair, as the whole dash board has to be dissassembled. Any one have any suggestions? I want to do it myself, because the heater core costs nearly 200 bucks, and labor is over 400 dollars!

 

it's an involved job. pull off all the dash panels, slide the seats back, remove the glove box and drop the steering wheel, remove all the ducting, pull out the dash support bar, then undo the nuts and bolts that hold the climate control stuff to the firewall. loosen the lock bolt on the bracket (NOT THE FITTINGS) holding the a/c line (just below the ps fluid reservior) so the line can slide a little bit and so can the evaporator. then i pulled the blower motor out first and dumped the leaves out of it, and then i removed the heater box, swapped in the new core, and started reassembly.

note: i removed my seats and carpet and center console but that's not necessary.. i just had some coolant puddle up under my carpet so i wanted to remove the carpet to let it dry. and my door panels hadn't been installed for months (hence why they aren't on in the pics)



all done minus the ghey mismatched center console

 

listen to this guy. When I put a new rad in my max it took me a couple days of commuting and bleeding before I got all the air out of mine. That was with spending lots of time jacking the car in the air and bleeding after the initial change.

Also I had a thermostat that would not seat all the way and caused this heating issue you are speaking of. If you didnt have a heating issue before the new radiator then its probably just air.

just my two cents

 

Just move to Florida and don't drive the car when it's too cold out Problem solved!

 

You make it seem so easy to do, but gosh, you really have to be very organized to remember what screw goes back where. But how much did you pay for your heater core? They say that this is a one time job, if you buy it new. The only reasonable prices Ive seen so far is at O'Riley auto parts, and Autozone, which they have it for $171.00 I also saw a used one with a guaranteed 3 year warranty for $84, I don't know which one I should get. I plan to keep the car for a while, its got 211,000 miles.

 

something you may want to consider is how long are you actually going to own it. I really like my car, but can I say i will own it in three years? probably not (and I do plan on putting some serious money into it between now and then, rebuilding teh engine/transmission with 245k on it, new suspension parts, etc..).

 

Another thing I've been thinking about in the back of my mind, is, will they come to a point soon where they will stop making the spare parts for the 3rd gen....or have they stopped a long time ago. Right now, there are a ton of parts available...pretty much everything I guess? But is it a finite supply from all the years that built up...and what we see is the remains of it?

There are still alot of 3rd gens on the road here in Toronto, but those trannies will be blowing soon...and once those go, most people usually trash the car.

 

i'm missing a few fastners for my interior actually, from when i swapped my interior. but for the heater core job i just tossed them in a bag as i disassembled it and used whatever fit during reassembly

you can get a new oem one for $165ish from www.courtesyparts.com

 

some parts are reused on newer models, like all 3.0L maximas '85-01 use the same clutch.

 

How about this instead?

http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main...&products_id=2

 

okay, that should definitely help with the Radiator temps.