Thread: Problem with radiator cooling

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WOW, still confused on this cooling system .I replaced the thermostat and found that something with the thermostat went real bad.I pulled the housing off of the intake to find the thermostat was rusted and got sucked up into the housing WTF!I got some needle nose pliers and pried it out and replaced with the new one.I put it in the way it shows in my book.Temp comes up to 190 now.???

At this temp I checked the mixture with the 5 ball tester ,all the balls stay at the bottom of the tester.???? I can see the plus and minus signs and now how to read that ,but dont know if 1 ball is supposed to rise ,all 5 ,the instructions do not say.


THIRD, now I was inpspecting the thermostat and the old one shows that it went in the opposite way of the its shown in the book.The book shows the sring going into the intake.The old one says (to rad) showing on the spring side .


I jsut pulled the thermostat back off and the new one shows also (motor to radiator) stamping on the spring side.I guess I will install it with the spring faceing up.

Thanks for any advice

Thanks for the help .the tester did not come with those instructions .Thats wierd ,I know i have put 2 gallons of antifreeze when the fuild was allready green.dont remember when I put water ,just anti freeze.

Ok wait a second, you said the spring was facing the rad????....well...in all the years i have installed thermostats the spring and sensor always faced the intake/engine side..but then again, thats just the engines ive worked on over the years.

Ok wait...now im confused also.... You said you installed it with the spring facing the intake, it heated up to 190 ( like it is supposed to ) then you took it apart and installed it in the other way?????

Ok, am i missing something here???...Didnt it work good before you switched it back around?

No I havent installed it yet (well I did but took it back out) ,I am still trying to decide witch way toput it.The old one has "to Rad" stamped on the spring side.whacked:Anyone have any insight as to which way the thermostat should go?I always thought spring down into the intake?

Is this one of those reverse coolant flow things and thats why the thermostat goes the other way?

Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

Is this one of those reverse coolant flow things and thats why the thermostat goes the other way?

does it have a serpintine belt system?, if so, it might be, otherwise no

yes it does have the serpentine belt.So it would go the other way?

Unless I'm realy wrong here the serpinten pumps run backwards from standard pumps but they are made different internaly so the flow is the same.If the thermostat says "To Rad" thats the way it goes. It realy isn't rocket sicence

Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

yes it does have the serpentine belt.So it would go the other way?

the water pump would spin opposite of what a V belt does, but I'm not shure they had the reverse cooling in the 80's, but it might have, due to the serpentine belt.

Originally Posted by cffisher

Unless I'm realy wrong here the serpinten pumps run backwards from standard pumps but they are made different internaly so the flow is the same.If the thermostat says "To Rad" thats the way it goes. It realy isn't rocket sicence

you are right, but Chevy did make reverse cooling 305's and 350's, I thought they were '96 up Vortechs only, but I'm not shure on that.

the thermostat wax ball has to be facing coolant at all times, otherwise the stat would never open up, as it would never get hot, so it would be facing the intake if standard flow, and facing stat housing if reverse flow.

Originally Posted by cffisher

Unless I'm realy wrong here the serpinten pumps run backwards from standard pumps but they are made different internaly so the flow is the same.If the thermostat says "To Rad" thats the way it goes. It realy isn't rocket sicence

I agree but I am wondering if it was in the wrong way and thats why it got pushed up into the thermostat housing. I am tempted to install in with the spring up ,but it just not what I am used to .

Denny wish you posted 10 min sooner I just went to the shop to look in my book I thought I was loosing it. . The only thing I'd have to add is GM recomends at least a 50% mix and not more than 75% antifreeze.

PS yes those gloves are coooool

Ya thats the way I just put it ,spring down.It working.
I did mix the green with the orange antifreeze if that makes a difference with no balls floating .So,
I figure I am going to drain all the fluid and start over with a 50/50 mix.I appreciate all your help.

Im glad its working for ya now, you were even starting to get me confused for a minute there... Yup...good thinking, drain it all out and start over, that way you know for sure. Maybe while your mixing it in the pails check it before pouring it back in, might save you from draining some back out again to add more water or atifreeze.

If you re read all the replies on here, you were starting to get most of us thinking on this one, and thats usually a good thing.....

Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

I did mix the green with the orange antifreeze if that makes a difference with no balls floating.

You shouldn't mix different kinds of antifreeze. They have different chemicals that may cause other problems when they're mixed together. Your tester with the little balls is probably calibrated for ethylene glycol antifreeze, and when you mix the two types together the tester won't give you accurate results! Does the tester say on it what type of antifreeze it's made for? What chemicals are in the green and the orange antifreezes? Ethylene glycol or propylene glycol?

The water will flow the same direction thru the engine whether the belts are the standard "V" belts, or the serpentine belt. The internal design of the waterpump will be different because of the reverse rotation of the impeller, but the water will still flow the same direction.