im new to this but im having a problem i replaced basically my whole cooling system, radiator, t-stat, all the hoses etc...my fans are coming on but when the temperature gets pretty much pegged they turn on half way between the red and the line before it. my heater wasnt working and the car was over heating so i replaced the waterpump, it fixed the problem for about a day the heater worked great car didnt heat up, and all of a sudden BOOM started heating up again and the heater stopped working, what could cause this problem?? i have a 3.4 liter and i do a paper route so i have to get this problem taken care of so if anyone has an idea please let me know. could this be air in the system? how would i bleed it? please help!

 

Are you leaking any coolant?

 

no, no leaks at all.

 

I have had this problem too, right after I bought the car.

Are you sure you replaced the radiator? And, did you try flushing it out before doing so? These Camaros are a bit touchy if somebody ads the wrong coolant, or if you let your coolant get too low.

The car is going to burn coolant, it is what it does. I would check your levels, see what color coolant you pull out when you check the overflow ( you want to see green), If there is anything on the dip stick, get your radiator flushed out real good.

Try adding the proper coolant, or replacing your coolant. It may just help.

 

haha yeah i did everything brand new radiator new waterpump everything just got it flushed at a good shop, they flushed it with chemicles about 4 times to get rust out of it and worked great for a few days but now all i have is problems, maybe didnt get all the rust out?

 

Maybe air in the system? is the air dam under your front bumper intact? cooling fans work? Try bleeding the air out...I'm not sure of the procedure on the 3.4 but it probably has a bleeder screw near the thermostat housing.

The way I do it, which works but is probably not the best way, is to start the car, let it warm up, and open the bleeder screw. Coolant and probably air will come out. Leave the screw open until you get a solid stream of coolant running out of the bleeder - then you know you've let all of the air out.

 

HANG ON!!! Never ever use green coolant in GM cars. You have to use DEX-cool (red) coolant only! The reason for this is that DEX-cool antifreeze is an anti-corrosive product. It won't happen right away, but the green coolant will eventually cause trouble, starting with the water-pump and thermostat seal. DEX-cool only!

If you have replaced everything in the cooling system and have no leaks, your problem is most likely an air lock somewhere, but are you sure the engine is actually over-heating? The guage may be your problem, but i doubt that since you say your heat won't work. Just a thought though.

How to FLUSH System:
To get the air-lock out you will need to run a continuous flow of water through the engine until it's cirrculated completely for a few minutes (you will be finished when the water coming out is clear and not dilutted coolant). To do this, you will need a radiator flush kit (very cheap at auto-zone, wal-mart, ect.) Normally, I wouldn't recommend dooing this on a Camaro but since you have the v-6 it shouldn't be too difficult...

1) Drain whatever coolant is in the radiator with the engine off. You want ALL of it, so just detach the "out" flow (bottom) hose. This will drain coolant in the radiator compeltely, as well as whatever was in the bottom of your engine.

2) Next you will need to be a bit more careful so make sure you LOCATE the right hoses. There will be two coolant lines running into the firewall, one "in and one "out." These two hoses are your heater hoses. I'm not familiar with the V-6 setup but they will most likely be pretty obvious. They are the only two coolant hoses that run into the firewall.

3) Next you will need to CUT one of the hoses (Preferrabley the "in" flow hose. Don't panic if you snip the "out" flow by accident. So locate and identify all necessary parts ahead of time). The directions on how to set up the flush kit are obvious, but read them carefully.

4) Turn on the hose to begin water flow.

5) Start the engine with the heat on all the way (fan speed is irrelevant).

6) It won't happen right away if there's an air lock, but eventually water should flow from the hose, through the engine, and out the radiator through the long neck that comes with the kit.

7) Close the t-joint that came with the cap that came with the flush kit after you've turned off the engine and no more water is flowing into it.

8) Drain everything you can from the engine and Add the necessary coolant until it's full.

If you don't feel comforatble doing this than have a proffesional flush your radiator.

 

^ I was under the impression that it's OK to use the newer "universal" coolants if ALL of the dexcool is flushed out of the system, no?

 

ok i did all the flushing and what not replaced both heater hoses leading into the heater core, made sure all air was out of system... But i think i might have switch the inlet hose with the outlet house leading into heater core, what would be some signs of that? Only my waterpump heater hose is getting hot, my other one is ice cold..

 

check to see when the car gets hot if your radiator fan is working. being a paper boy you make many stops and gos, which if your radiator fan dosent turn on then that could cause the car to over heat.