Pontiac Repair: overheating engine, electric cooling fan, radiator hose

Question
96 sunfire 2.2 180K runs hot top radiator hose hot bottom hose cold i changed the thermostat and radiator and resivor cap.Thank you

Answer
Hi Wayne:
Was this over heating before thus the thermostat change? Or was the overheating aster the thermostat was changed? What ever the case may be that engine is really hard to bleed the air out of and it will over heat after a thermostat change even if there wasn't a problem before. Ther is a bleed scre on the heater bylass hoce above the exhaust manifold. open that screw up and fill the resivoir bottle. if no air comes out and just coolant then start the car and see is air comes out if so keep it runnning untill coolant comes out. Just crack open the screw do not remove it. If all the air is gone and it still will overheat I would start to look for other causes of the overheating like a electric cooling fan that will not come on. Those engines were noted for head gasket failures leaking both into the engine and externally onto the ground. Good luck :}