Thermostat / Water Pump problem

[EagleTSIawd]

i got a weird problem here... i got home last night and took out the ignition key, my turbo timer had 3 min left so the car stayed on. while it was idling i opened up the hood just to check if there were any leaking fluids or anything strange. I just got my car done a couple weeks ago so im checking everything all the time.

while i was looking under the hood, i noticed something weird. my radiator fan hadn't turned on yet. i thought, ok maybe the temp hasn't gone up high yet. so i walked to the passengers side to get a glimpse at my cluster and i saw my check engine light was on ,i said oooh chiit. i opened the door and looked at my temp and it was all the way up to heaven!!. I turned off the car, grabbed my laptop and checked what dsmlink had for my CEL. It showed nothing but the light was still on. i turned on the fan to see if it worked and it did turn on, i left it on... then i checked the temp through dsmlink to see if my sensor was bad but it was reading fine, it read 235 F Hoolly crapperss!!!... thats too high for me..

... i let the car cool and turned it on again, the CEL went away. I left it warm up and the fan turned on so my guess is that the fans don't turn on while my turbo timer is on, weird...

... i then checked if coolant was flowing through the top rad hose, and it wasn't... the fluid was just chillen there but the hose was hot as well as the lower hose, and the car would cool off when the fan turned on...

do thermostats stay closed when they go bad as well??? i thought they stayed open. But when they are closed will fluid just stay still on the radiator???

any info would be handy, thanks guys


and sorry for writing this thread long as a book

 

[Defiant]

Thermostats can fail closed. Even the "Fail Safe" thermostats can. If the wax leaks out of the actuator, there's nothing to push the piston out and open the thermostat, and if the anvil comes adrift, there's nothing for the pushrod to work against. I also had one wear through the anvil once, so it had opened about halfway and stuck there.

 

[EagleTSIawd]

wax melts and expands aaahh brilliant idea to use in a thermostat.... wellp, i took out my thermostat and placed on boiling water and WOW!! the little dude opens its like, its alive!!!

...anyways, after that excitement i realized my thermostat was doing its job. I was also reading on here that you have to burp the system after you add coolant. Thats one step i did not do when i added coolant on mine, but i was looking at the thermo and it has a little hole for air to escape... but i dont know, that hole seems to small

im gonna burp the system by opening the cap and turning on the car and let it warm up, then just add coolant as it goes down, what do you guys thinK?

 

[Boostjunki84]

I think that's a good idea; that way you can also be sure coolent is flowing through the system. Let us know how it goes.

 

[VTEC_THIS]

im gonna burp the system by opening the cap and turning on the car and let it warm up, then just add coolant as it goes down, what do u guys thinK?

I haven't tried it that way, but it doesn't mean it doesn't work. What I did was just unscrewed the radiator cap, while the car was off. Then I kept squeezing the top radiator hose until all the air bubbles came up and the coolant went down. Then fill it with coolant, turn it on and if the level goes down again fill it with more coolant. Then you should be good .

 

[EagleTSIawd]

... unscrewed the radiator cap, while the car was off. Then I kept squeezing the top radiator hose until all the air bubbles came up and the coolant went down. Then fill it with coolant, turn it on and if the level goes down again fill it with more coolant...

you know, i did this right before i took out the thermostat just to check if it had air. i did this for like 10-20 mins and bubbles kept pooping up so yep, it most deffinetly had air. il do this method again once i add coolant... i also just noticed i have a leak on my water pipe where it connects to the water pump. Could this little leak also suck up air???... i have some extra o-rings laying around so im gonna replace it. Its gonna be a pita to do it though

 

[VTEC_THIS]

I feel your pain...definitely is a pain. Nothing you can't do though, just a little time consuming - that's all.

I'm honestly not sure if the leak would suck up air, I would think it would just be pushing out coolant. But I'm not too sure. When you put the new o-ring on, wet it first with coolant so it wont leak.

 

[Defiant]

DSMs don't need to be "burped". Any air left in after a fill will be purged after a couple of heating and cooling cycles. The bleed hole in the thermostat is sufficient to let all the air escape the block.
EagleTSIawd, I suspect you may have a failed waterpump. If your cooling system is growing air, suspect a head gasket.

 

[EagleTSIawd]

very true about the bleed hole, one thing i forgot to mention was that when i placed the thermostat on boiling water, i placed it next to the new thermostat so i could see if they opened at the same time. The new one opened up quick as the old one opened up slowly, im not sure if that could cause any bad side effects.

i put a new water pump when i did the rebuild and a new headgasket from FFWD with the built in o-rings, i just did a compression test and got 151 exactly on all 4 cyl, they all looked dry as i peeked inside with a flash light.

im hoping my new pump didnt go bad and i never had any heating problemss until my fan didnt turn on with the turbo timer...

... as for now, i have to wait until monday to get the o-ring for the water pipe then il check if the pump is flowing


i appreciate all the help from you guys so far

so i got the o-ring on Monday and installed it. It took me an hour to put the water pipe back (dam turbo coolant return line) i filled up the radiator with fluid, turned on the car and left it warm up. Everything worked perfectly, i then drop the car and give it a few hard passes. I came back home and everything checked out nice in the coolant system. So i guess my old thermostat was not working properly, i also noticed that my old coolant water seemed filled with dirt, weird. but its all good now.... thanks to everyone who replied