I have the problem of overheating and temp gauge fluctuating all the way up to hot and the fans not coming on properly..After reading though the forum It seems many have had this problem..After doing all the usual things that would be suspect and still having the problem I decided to take the old thermostat and cut the guts out just leaving the old seal and outer casing and reinstall it to try and determine if it was a headgasket,waterpump or plugged rad..After refilling it with water and leaving the rad cap off so I could watch the flow and see if it had good flow and would still boil at idle..I discovered I have no flow..My question is which direction should I see it flowing?????..I think I have it narrowed down to rad or waterpump..it doesn't flow good enough for me to tell the direction..lol..just kinda sits there...[sm=smiley21.gif][sm=smiley21.gif]Thanks for the help...

 

well went outside to see... and it was kinda hard to tell only because it was bubbling and such...but it looked like it was flowing away from the engine.... from the top

and code 22 is just the engine coolant temp. sensor is out of range...

 

It should flow from the cap to the radiator.

 

Thanks...tomorrow I'm going to take the rad hoses off the bottom and top of the rad and run the garden hose though it to see what kind of flow it has..if it seems half decent I guess I'm taking the waterpump out and checking it..I would think with no thermostat restriction I should see all kinds of flow...

 

I know you said you checked the usuals but have you checked out the fan relay for the fans not cutting on issue. sounds like your water pump could be giving you a problem. I could be wrong and I hope Im wrong on that one. the bubbling could come from inproper pressure from the cap and the temp sender is an easy fix that will cost you $20 at advanced auto ( partsamerica.com)

 

I changed the sensor,cap,thermostat,switched a relay around and even picked up another PCM from the auto-wreckers to try just in case it was the problem..this neon also had the problematic dash gauges so I changed them to..I just bought this car the previous owner said they just changed the timing belt but probably didn't do the waterpump..It runs like a top it just passed a emissions test with flying colours..I just hope it doesn't have further damage to the head..lol

 

they should have changed that too. its right there in the neighborhood. probably forgot or didn't think it would be a future problem. should have went with better safe then sorry and changed it anyways. good luck

 

I took the rad out and it's finished..now that I have it out i can see the fins are falling out and it looks like someone dumped stop leak in it..While I'm waiting for the new one I'm going to see how plugged up the heater core is..I'm getting an aluminum finned rad instead of the copper core which is in it..

 

The new rad did the trick...put the good thermostat back in filled it with antifreeze took it for a long drive and the temp gauge stayed in the middle didn't move at all..

 

Good to hear you are up an running.