studio460
06-10-2004, 04:40 AM
Boy, do I feel stupid! Okay, I'm no mechanic so . . .
Okay, I finally got around to installing my 180° thermostat. I undid the two bolts from the T-stat housing from underneath the car, let about two gallons of coolant fall into a bucket, and replaced the stat and gasket in the same orientation. The gasket goes "under" the stat, right (closest to the ground)? Anyway, I tightened the bolts and everything seemed snug and fit.
Then I unscrew the bleed valve on the top of the coolant hoses and fill it with one gallon of coolant. I start the engine, run the car a minute with the bleed valve open, then add about one gallon of water. As I continue to fill the bleed valve, just before I'm about to finish pouring the gallon of water, the reservoir starts to overflow--I stop.
I screw the bleed cap back on and pull out of the garage to go to the store about a mile away to buy a turkey baster to remove the excess fluid from the reservoir. After 200 yards, I notice the water temp gauge start to climb--it climbs to about half way to the "20 MPH" mark in about 30 seconds. I immediately return to my garage, park and kill the engine. I then attempt to repeat the fill-the-bleed-valve trick, but it only takes about a cup of water this time.
I start the car and I hear a LOUD . . . "SQUEAAARRRK . . . SQUEAAARRRK" sound. Thinking I've seized my motor, I shut the ignition. But I look at the temp guage and it now only reads about one-third of the way to the "20MPH" mark. So I open the hood and start squeezing the big black hose to the right of the bleed valve to force any remaining air bubbles out of the system. A few dozen small bubbles do come up through the bleed valve--I do this for about a minute until I see no more air bubbles. The reservoir is still pretty full.
Thinking my engine is gone anyway, I start the car again . . . "SQUEAAARRRK . . . SQUEAAARRRK" but this time I rev the engine a bit . . . a single "SQUEAAARRRK" of the same tone. A bit relieved, I notice that the "squeaark" noise doesn't seem to correlate to engine RPM. I removed the reservoir cap and the bleed valve but still got the noise.
Is the gasket not seated properly in the T-stat housing making this "trumpet" sound? My engine's okay, right (water temp gauge never made it past half way to 20 MPH) ??? Help!
Okay, I finally got around to installing my 180° thermostat. I undid the two bolts from the T-stat housing from underneath the car, let about two gallons of coolant fall into a bucket, and replaced the stat and gasket in the same orientation. The gasket goes "under" the stat, right (closest to the ground)? Anyway, I tightened the bolts and everything seemed snug and fit.
Then I unscrew the bleed valve on the top of the coolant hoses and fill it with one gallon of coolant. I start the engine, run the car a minute with the bleed valve open, then add about one gallon of water. As I continue to fill the bleed valve, just before I'm about to finish pouring the gallon of water, the reservoir starts to overflow--I stop.
I screw the bleed cap back on and pull out of the garage to go to the store about a mile away to buy a turkey baster to remove the excess fluid from the reservoir. After 200 yards, I notice the water temp gauge start to climb--it climbs to about half way to the "20 MPH" mark in about 30 seconds. I immediately return to my garage, park and kill the engine. I then attempt to repeat the fill-the-bleed-valve trick, but it only takes about a cup of water this time.
I start the car and I hear a LOUD . . . "SQUEAAARRRK . . . SQUEAAARRRK" sound. Thinking I've seized my motor, I shut the ignition. But I look at the temp guage and it now only reads about one-third of the way to the "20MPH" mark. So I open the hood and start squeezing the big black hose to the right of the bleed valve to force any remaining air bubbles out of the system. A few dozen small bubbles do come up through the bleed valve--I do this for about a minute until I see no more air bubbles. The reservoir is still pretty full.
Thinking my engine is gone anyway, I start the car again . . . "SQUEAAARRRK . . . SQUEAAARRRK" but this time I rev the engine a bit . . . a single "SQUEAAARRRK" of the same tone. A bit relieved, I notice that the "squeaark" noise doesn't seem to correlate to engine RPM. I removed the reservoir cap and the bleed valve but still got the noise.
Is the gasket not seated properly in the T-stat housing making this "trumpet" sound? My engine's okay, right (water temp gauge never made it past half way to 20 MPH) ??? Help!