car over heats

[redneck steve]

02 grand am over heats put new water pump, thermostat, fans all on, no cap on radiator,over fill sump boiles over,has bleeder valve so no air , what gives

[firestick]

Try putting the radiator cap back on.

[joejeep92]

^What he said...why is it off? The radiator cap puts pressure on the system therefore raising the boiling point. Remember the boiling point of water is 212? Your engine likes to operate at 210 so it allows the engine to operate without boiling as long as it is pressurized.

[rabbitgeek]

Does the water boil out of the overflow coolant reservoir (when you have the cap on)? It could be gasses from the engine leaking into the water system from a warped engine. A gas test ($45?) of the coolant will determine if that is the case.

I had a PT Cruiser that was blowing water out of the reservoir and we found this after a gas test. Had the engine rebuilt. No more overheating.

[joejeep92]

Ok...ignoring the radiator cap. Those Grand Am's are actually really good cars but...one weak point is the intakes tend to grenade either burning up the upper intake egr passage or just leaking coolant either internally or externally. Do a coolant pressure test and as previously stated a block check.

[BadFordRanger]

A blown head gasket will do this! It is usually a warped head that caused the gasket to blow!
If you take it off or have someone else do so, have the head milled as little as needed to straighten the surface back up!

Ranger

[1948CaseVAI]

Originally Posted by redneck steve

02 grand am over heats put new water pump, thermostat, fans all on, no cap on radiator,over fill sump boiles over,has bleeder valve so no air , what gives

I had two grand ams and both blew the head gasket, produced those symptoms. May cost more than the car is worth if you hire the repair.

[Wis Bang 2]

My 99 did that at 145,000, The Junk Yard take out went to TX and was traded in 3 years later. It cost $1200.00 then. The take-out was still running strong but the rest of the car was falling apart.

[Arcade]

Dont forget the obvious.... The thing that transfers heat from the coolant. The radiator. Ill bet its plugged just enough to cause your overheating problem. Just because you can see it circulate coolant, does not mean that it is not plugged.
Do not run water in your cooling system either. Must be a 50/50 mix water to coolant.

[Arcade]

Your "02 needs Dexcool. Its the orange coolant.

[joejeep92]

Originally Posted by Arcade

Your "02 needs Dexcool. Its the orange coolant.

Redifine...it comes with Dexcool. However, flushing the Dexcool out and putting good, quality antifreeze back in will make you much better off.