Cavalier Overheating, PLEASE HELP

I have a 2002 2.2 OHV Cavalier. 92,000 miles. I just recently had a blown head gasket due to a faulty cooling fan. I fixed that problem, replaced all the gaskets, new oil & filter, new antifreeze, new thermostat, new spark plugs, & new cooling fan. And yet it still is overheating just in idle. Fan is working fine. I thought it could be the water pump so I replaced that today and the damn car is still over heating, and also no heater. Im getting very frustrated & wallet getting thin, I just don't know what else it could be. Im taking it to a mechanic next week so if anyone has any ideas please let me know, you'll be saving me lots of money. Thanks in advance for your help.

I know firsthand your pain. I just replaced everything you have. It might be an air pocket in your system. Try this (if you havent already) with the car cold, open your bleed port(s). my 96 has 2 of them. one of the passenger side of the head (on the EGR housing), one on the heater pipe on the front side of the engine. with them open, fill the reserve bottle until coolant is coming out in a steady stream from both ports. close off the ports.

then cap it off and try it.

mine is doing the exact opposite, i can idle for HOURS (literally i have!), but cant drive it more than 2 minutes without overheating.


I suggest heading over to www.J-body.org there are a few ornary members there, but there is a wealth of info to be found.

Good luck!!

What is the car doing that makes you say it is overheating? Nailing the symptom down first.

Thanks for all the great feed back. I finally figured out what was wrong & I got the car running, and its running great. I feel really dumb though. All it was is I totally spaced out on bleeding out the air of the coolant system, I did that and it was perfect, no more overheating. Lifted a big weight off my shoulders. So thanks to you all for your help, and happy new year.:rofl: