Thermostat Problem!

[greencar]

So I have this problem with my car. It overheats. I HAD an Aftermarket aluminum Radiator and Electric fans, and that too would overheat. The only way it ran right is when I drilled a large hole in the thermostat. It would run about 120 degrees no problem. But I got crappy gas mileage and I hardly had any heat.

I got tired of the super cool set-up and reverted my cooling set-up back to stock. I never had a problem with stock, the only reason why I upgraded to an aluminum and e-fan set-up was that my previous stock set-up took a crap. (Clutch Fan blade in the radiator).

So Now I'm back to stock, OEM everything, and have been through Multiple OEM Thermostats. It still overheats! I gave up and took it to a shop (working 86 hours a week sucks!). They are having a same ordeal as I am.

It appears that the thermostat does not want to open up and carry coolant through in a normal fashion. The upper hose and radiator are hot to the touch, and the lower hose, and thermostat housing are cool to the touch. It is almost like the temperature extremes on each side of the thermostat; make it not want to open...

They tested the Coolant for Hydrocarbons, and there was none, so it rules out the head gasket, they have bled it numerous times and are just as stumped as I am! Please Help ME!

-Dan

[Slidin' Sam]

Are you sure your oem radiator doesn't have a clog in it or something? The reason your aluminum one was overheating is because of "heat sink"...or something like that...basically the aluminum radiator sucks at disapating (spl?) heat, so while it may be good for cooling, it is only good on race only applications that are not run for long periods of time. Also, make sure when bleeding the cooling system that you run the heater on full. I would just pull the thermostat, bleed it correctly, and when you want some heat just put a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator.