Problem with my car..Pls Help

Alright, Iv'e been doing so much to my car and now it wants to start being a booger.

2 days ago my car started overheating really bad.The temp gauge on the dash comes on also the gauge goes all the way to the red aswell and the engine coolant light. Well I put coolant in *the right kind* and all the dash lights go off. So now I'm happy I thought I fixed the problem. Well today it started overheating again and I had to come home,called my dad over and had him look at it. He told me to let it run for 25 minutes and see If it overheats. It does and on the ground is a mess of coolant all over the place. He changed the thermostat about 3 months ago because I had a similar problem. So we think it might not be that now. He thinks it might be the water pump, so he wanted me to ask you guys a question..it might help him figure out what the problem is.

The hoseing leading from the engine to the radiator and from the radiator to the recovery tank is COLD. What does this mean??

I forgot to mention he has my car raised on one side and it doesen't seem to overheat as bad. It is the right side.

Extra info:
1997 Cavalier
2.2 L
58k miles

Thank you for all your help
-Christina

Well here is my two cents............lol. Has the coolant ever been changed/system flushed ? Did you get a good quaility thermostat or a cheap er one. On some things I just like to spend the little bit extra and get OEM parts from dealer, this would be one of them. Did the cooling fan come on when it over heated? Did you feel the rad hoses top and bottom when it was hot . Both hoses should be hot. the line going to recovery bottle is just that for recovery so it being cold really doesn`t mean a great deal IMO. The water pump going with 58,000 on it while possible ,I doubt unless you see a leak from the weep hole on water pump.Do you hear a high pitched squeal coming from engine/ water pump area? I`d start with a good cooling system flush and new OEM thermy,a new res cap wouldn`t hurt either as it may be plugged /defedtive. Some guys may say bad headgasket or head don`t panic yet ...............lol .My`00 sunfire with the 2.2 took a fit a couple of years ago and burped and puked all over the ground and I thought here we go . Filled it up ,it`s been a good little puddle jumper since. Like I said just my :2cents:

Okay, no coolant was never changed system was never flushed. Yes the thermostat is a very good quality one. Yes cooling fan did come on. Both hoses are cold ( are you sure this isn't important) . The actual coolant fluid was cold after the car was running and was overheated. We did not see any leaking besides the coolant on the ground.There is no high pitched squeal coming from the engine/water pump area.

When you say the res cap may be plugged/defective what do you mean? If it was defective wouldn't this happend a long time ago?*shrugs*

Iv'e read other forums about this topic and it always seems to be a tricky one!

Hopefully we can find out the problem. Please keep the info coming.

Thanks so much!
-Christina

Where is the fluid leaking from?. The overflow tube from the tank? Or from the water pump area. Both are on the passenger (right) side of the car.

The pump has 2 weep holes on it. 1 above the center shaft , and 1 below it. When the pump goes, it usually leaks out the lower weep hole, and you can't see that hole unless you take the idler pully off the pump.

The pump itself is easy to change on a 2.2L, and costs ~ $40.00 for a brand new unit at any parts store.

Take the reservoir cap off and run the car till normal temp. I think when your coolant light came on and you added more, it put air in the system. This will bleed that air out and vacuum down the system. Make sure the tank is fill enough so air cannot be re-entered into the system.

2) If you do have a leak somewhere thats also possibly putting air back into your system causing the overheating to continue.

3) Squeeze the upper engine hose right in front of the exhaust manifold near the coil packs with the engine on. If thats hard you your water pump is fine.

I didn't feel like reading everything above other than your first post.

wow I`m impressed. I`ll just get rid of my long winded crap so it doesn`t take anyones time ! Good luck wiith your car lilsweets the above poster will get you thru

Hey guys, just wanted to update you on my car. Well my brother was looking over my car and then he just added some water into the coolant..I was like "What are you doing?!" He said it would be okay. The next day the coolant light went off and my car stopped overheating. I have no idea what this means..I am just happy it's working again. I also wanted to say thankyou all for your help. I appreciate every single post & feedback from everyone :) Without you guys..I would not have gotten this far with my car. Thanks for your help.

-Christina

Hey guys, just wanted to update you on my car. Well my brother was looking over my car and then he just added some water into the coolant..I was like "What are you doing?!" He said it would be okay. The next day the coolant light went off and my car stopped overheating. I have no idea what this means..I am just happy it's working again. I also wanted to say thankyou all for your help. I appreciate every single post & feedback from everyone :) Without you guys..I would not have gotten this far with my car. Thanks for your help.

-Christina


Um, Random question. Did you pour STRAIGHT coolant into your system? Auto parts stores sell it 2 ways. Straight Coolant and 50/50 mix. I hope you did the 50/50 mix, because if you didn't no wonder why your car was acting the way it was. Lol