still having coolant problems.. can anyone disgnose it?

[cam98aro]

i cant figure out what is causing this, but I will explain exactly what the car does

when i start it, no warm air will blow out of the vents, the temp gauge will read 0... then all of a sudden the temp gauge will spike and it will overheat, and the fans will turn on. if i shut it off and turn it back on, i will see the gauge start to drop to almost 160F and heat will start to come out again.

- brand new thermostat (i replaced it because of this problem)
- coolant is bled
- no signs of leaking anywhere
- no smoke from exhaust

my coolant level keeps dropping, which i am assuming is also the cause of this problem.

can it be intake/head gaskets? I cant think of anything else that it could possibly be??

edit* i just checked the coolant and it only took like 1/2 cup.. thats not enough to cause it to be sucking up air.. the overflow is full also

[techsan23]

Re: still having coolant problems.. can anyone disgnose it?

If it were me, when the temp spikes I would kill the car and crack the bleeder screw. I know you already bled the sys, but it sounds like an air pocket.

[ScottS4050]

Re: still having coolant problems.. can anyone disgnose it?

If it were me, when the temp spikes I would kill the car and crack the bleeder screw. I know you already bled the sys, but it sounds like an air pocket.

^ X2....

If you continue to lose fluid, check those damn plastic 90 degree elbows that always leak. (there is one on the front of the intake manifold right under and behind the throttle body. And the other is on the bottom of the heater hose assembly.) The O-rings on those go bad and will let the coolant seep out very slowly, and you may not even notice it leaking. They are a $4 part you get at Autozone in the 'Help!' section.

Good luck.

[Need4Camaro]

Re: still having coolant problems.. can anyone disgnose it?

Yeah, I had a coolant elbow nearly cost me my motor.

But also, did you replace your temp gauge sending unit?

[cam98aro]

Re: still having coolant problems.. can anyone disgnose it?

If it were me, when the temp spikes I would kill the car and crack the bleeder screw. I know you already bled the sys, but it sounds like an air pocket.

thanks, i tried that yesterday, there was no air that came out, just a steady stream, the problem seems to only happen every once in a while, which is so odd, i started it today and everything worked fine.

it has to be air pockets, im pretty confident of that, its just the point of why am i getting it

^ X2....

If you continue to lose fluid, check those damn plastic 90 degree elbows that always leak. (there is one on the front of the intake manifold right under and behind the throttle body. And the other is on the bottom of the heater hose assembly.) The O-rings on those go bad and will let the coolant seep out very slowly, and you may not even notice it leaking. They are a $4 part you get at Autozone in the 'Help!' section.

Good luck.

thanks, i will try to look, but I dont think they are leaking, I have put about 20 miles on the car in the passed few months , so it never moves, there are no spots under the car at all, which is why im thinking bad head/intake gaskets maybe.

the car seems to smoke a lot more than other cars, but it always has, i do notice that the car will smoke from the exhaust when other cars around dont seem to be, but it doesnt smoke when its warm out.

if the problem is a bad head/intake gasket i have made up my mind that a small block chevy is going in there