Help! car overheating after SLP 160 thermo install..

[topgun1]

So today I replaced my stock thermostat with the SLP 160 degree thermo. Never had any cooling problems before. Filled back up with Dexcool 50/50 exactly like directions (already pre-diluted). Within 10 minutes of driving, my car is overheating, got high coolant temp alert, then a/c turning off due to excessive engine heat, then engine overheating--idle engine, which I did, let it cool down and eventually made it back to the house. lucky I was only a few minutes away.

The fans didn't come on until the coolant temp was up in the 230's! I really hope I didn't seriously screw up something. I let it cool down and it just kept creeping up again, no fans kicking on. but stopped it before 200. The HP tune before had them kicking on at 175, and was working fine, no high temp coolant problems. The fluid appears to be moving in the radiator, there are no leaks or unusual noises or anything. did a battery cable pull for the hell of it too. Could there be trapped air in the system from opening the thermostat housing?

Why would the fans not be coming on now if I only replaced the thermostat? faulty thermostat? I'm not driving it all now. May have to tow it to my mechanic on monday. But before that, I will try putting the stock one back in tomorrow morning and see what happens, but that shouldn't have anything to do with when the fans kick in, that should be controlled by the engine computer right?

Also, on a side note, i got a high oil temp indicator and now saying replace engine oil soon, although there appears to be plenty in it.

any help here would be greatly appreciated!!

[hypurone]

It sounds like you have an air pocket/trapped air in the system. Take the rad cap off and start gently squeezing the lower rad hose to burp the air out. Also, you did orient the bleed/jiggle pin at the 12 o'clock position when you installed, yes?

I would then start the car w/o the rad cap on still and while running repeat the "squeeze" procedure. Alos, open the heater to full hot to allow flow thru the core...

[Mr_Draco]

1 of 2 things I can think of.

1) (and the most likely) you didn't bleed the system like you are suppose to anytime you empty or flush the coolant system (which hypurone mentioned above).

2) Since you have a lower thermostat then the fans settings, the thermostat is opening up and cooling the coolant before the fans have a chance to come on thus keeping the coolant below the threshold of the fans so they never come on.

If it's the first one then that's no big deal and you can do it yourself in 10-15 minutes, just do what hypurone said above. If it's the second one then you will either have to put the old thermostat back in or have the fans re-tuned to come on at a lower temperature.

[topgun1]

i'm testing out the thermostat in boiling water to see if it's faulty first. Also, checked the cooling fan relays. how do you know if they are bad?


thanks for all the advice guys. yes, talked to my mechanic and he said it's probably air as well. I'll be working on it tonight. should have read up on this before i started.

[topgun1]

alright, SLP thermostat was good, it opened up in the boiling water and closed back up after taking out. However, I put the stock one back in. I bled the system to get the air out, turned out the heat full blast. Went from 133F to 208F and still no fan kicking on. what temp do they normally kick on? and judging from this, they definitely aren't tuned to come at 175F.

[tp_preformance]

i looked in the tune and i have them set to come on @ 185 on the low side. i am still thinking its an air pocket in the system. cause it worked fine before.

[Scourage]

It took a few warm ups to bleed my system when I did my cam change. I had air trapped in the heads, I could hear it after I warmed it up then shut it down each time.

I just idled it till it hit 200, shut it down, let it cool for a bit, topped off the coolant and repeated till it stabilized at a decent temp.

[topgun1]

Originally Posted by tp_preformance

i looked in the tune and i have them set to come on @ 185 on the low side. i am still thinking its an air pocket in the system. cause it worked fine before.

ah ok, 185F. could be Tommy, we'll check it out hopefully this coming saturday.


looks like my post from last night didn't save. the problem was fixed when I put back in the stock thermo. I also bled air from the system, topped off with fresh coolant/water mix, and ran the heater on high. Fans started coming on initally at around 215F, then cooled the temps back into the 190's, then was consistently in the 190's when driving around last night, even with the a/c on. so appears to be back to normal.

I do want to see why the fans aren't coming on at 185F though.

as for the oil life indicator life, total coincidence it came on around the same time, dealer didn't reset it, plenty of oil in the engine. i reset it and good to go.

[tp_preformance]

Ok sounds good