Another overheating thread!!!

[Traumahawk]

Sorry!

So here it goes: 2000 V6 3.4L, unsure of miles on engine as it has been replaced and we bought car from sister-in-law. Ran fine for months. Took it on a weekend trip 4 hours one way, total 8 hours. Come Monday son took it to school and about 7 miles in he called me and said car over heated. He pulled over and shut it off. It was a cool and rainy day. I take some water with me and reservoir is low or empty cant remember, anyway fill it up and proceed to take it home. Notice no defrost heat at all and temp. gauge starts to go up and up, luckily I'm at the top of a hill and shut it off and coast down and able to cool motor off and make it home without overheating.

My fixes: Water pump, 2 thermostats, newreservoir and cap, new radiator, new upper and lower hoses, flush of the system(before new radiator).
Compression test: 1) 155 3) 155 5) 145
2) 155 4)155 6)145
Noticed no water shooting out of spark plug holes when cranking motor
Oil looks good, no white smoke when driving. It will not get hot idling in the driveway and needle sits a little below halfway and heat will work after I bleed the air out of the system(steady stream of coolant from bleeder valve, no air). Now when I go and drive around town within a minute the heat is gone from the heater and if I were to go on the highway then the motor temp. will climb.

A couple of weeks ago I took out the thermostat and drove it in town for a while. Never got hot and didn't get to the half way mark. When it was time to go home went on the highway and drove about 5-7 miles and the temp started shooting up, so I immediately pulled over and didn't shut it off and the red light and chime didn't come on open the hood and the tank is spitting out water through the over flow tube, it cools down a bit and proceed home via down hills and shutting it off and coasting to cool it. So that's where I'm at. Should I go ahead and tear it apart to the head gaskets and replace or is there something else I'm missing that I can try.

Oh I did attempt to do the block test with the engine block test kit, but when the engine was at temp and I would proceed to press and release the bulb the hot steam was starting to warp the hard plastic tube that solution sits in. So I stopped.

[Traumahawk]

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[kadawg13]

I don't have much experience with this but....
it might seem obvious but check fuses, fans, and fan relays.
is the air dam under the bumper intact? that forces quite a bit of air in.
hopefully someone with more experience can help you better.

[sleepyalero]

Yeah, is the cooling fans working at all?

Also, these motors are a btch to bleed. I would let it run for atleast 30 mins watching the coolant level, and topping off as needed.

Your comp test looks good.

[Traumahawk]

Yes fans work just fine. I have spent at least a good 20 min bleeding out air to the point water is just a steady stream, no air spitting out just stream of water. It can sit and idle in drive way all day long and be just fine. Only when I go drive is when I lose heater heat and if I go on highway it will eventually start to want to over heat.

[sleepyalero]

Nothing hitting the ground? Replaced thermostat?

[rustyballs_69]

Sounds like you have air in the system still. When I bleed the system I open the bleeder with engine off, top coolant off, start car and turn heater on full blast. Leave the bleeder open and keep topping off coolant for about 5 minutes. Shut the bleeder and Rev the motor up, you don't need to go over 3k. Rev it for a few minutes then let it idle, open bleeder. Do this 3-4 times. If you just let it idle while bleeding air can still get trapped in the system. Reving it will push the trapped air. I don't know if this is your problem but I hope it helps.

[Traumahawk]

Yes I have put in 2 new thermo's.
I will try letting it bleed for 5 min. or longer. Like you did. I'm afraid if that doesn't work I'm just going to buy head gasket kit and put it in so that I know for sure and go from there. Thanks for all the input.