2002 grand am overheating, no hot air?

Jakedog104

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I have a 2002 Grand Am and recently it has been overheating. If I keep the RPM up, the heat kicks on and cools down the motor, but when Im driving normally it has problems. I have tried Thermogasket, flushed out the coolant system twice, and the water pump is new. I have to stop every day to put more water and antifreeze in and bleed the air out of the system. Does anyone else have this problem, or know any solutions?
 
if your constantly putting water and antifreeze in you have a leak
 
I thought so too, I tried thermogasket which should have fixed a leak. I also usually dont get hot air. when i do the car cools down. i think im losing coolant because it is evaporating when the engine heats up. any ideas on the hot air problem?
 
No hot air from the heater is air in the system either a trapped bubble or from the lack of coolant. Sounds like you have a leak, if not visibly leaking on the ground it is internal. What does the oil on the dipstick look like? If it has the consistency of a milk shake then you have major trouble.
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Get your hands on a cooling system pressure tester to locate the leak
 
Most of the coolant is being blown out of the overflow tube. The oil is fine, no moisture. I get heat when I keep my rpm around 4k.
 
have you checked if the engine fan is turning on when the engine gets hot?
 
Yeah, no problems with the fan.
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sounds like you have air in the system from either changing the water pump or the thermostat, which engine do you have?
 
are you opening the air bleed when you add fluid
 
If its blowing out of the overflow, check for a head gasket leak
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Bottom radiator hose

I had the same problem. While reving the engine I observed that the bottom radiator would colapse when I reved the engine hard, Problem fixed. Numerous repair shops wanted to keep changing parts. Hose was 16 bucks,
 
overheating

Check the lower radiator hose. With the hood open and the engine warmed up, rev the engine a few times and hold the RPMS up for 5 to 10 seconds and observe the lower radiator hose, see if it sucks in and colaspes. My 2001, 3.4 was doing the same and the lower hose was the culprit.
 
Yes, im bleeding air when i put antifreeze in , Both radiator hoses have been replaced about a month ago.
 
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Tough problem cure

I found that the lower radiator hose was colapsing when the engine was accelerated. I had the same problem as tou are discribing.
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as asked above, did you have it checked for a blown head gasket?
 
overheating

It sounds like, if you have to keep the RPM to get heat, that you have a low flow problem, like, air, obstruction, leak, When trouble shooting my like problem I increased the percentage of anti freeze to 70 percent, and went to a 180 degree thermostat. 70 percent anti freeze boils at about 15 degrees above 50 percent. You must insure that you don't have a blown head gasket or a cracked block. Then start eliminating one item at a time. You can get a leak down tester from Petboys for free. Compression test the engine.
 
I had this issue this summer after i did a head gasket change as well. Make sure when you are bleeding it that you have the hot air all the way up and that your reservoir cap is good as well. Doing those two things stopped my issues.
 
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