No coolant going to new radiator
 

ok guys, I just installed a new radiator and no coolant is running to it... What can I check to make sure my car doesnt overheat.... It has been getting a little past normal so I cut it off.. I been idling the car with the cap off and no fluid movement even with cap on...

is the thermostat opening?

The coolant isnt even making its way to the thermostat... After idling for 5 minutes I opened all caps to check, nothing was wet or looked like it recieved any fluid.

in my experience, when all coolant is drained and especially if there's no coolant in the block, there is usually a pocket of air in the system and will take the temp guage to 3/4 way to H to open the thermostat at which point there will be a rush of coolant into the block, provided the pump is ok. keep checking the top hose by feel. u could remove the t'stat and pour coolant directly into the engine block. unless the w/p impeller is completely rusted away, i can't see any reason why coolant isn't flowing. btw, 5 min idling isn't long enough for it to get up to temp anyway.

Well I idled it up to 3/4 of the temp. No coolant is even getting to the thermostat. And the water pump is new, as is the thermostat... Do you think I should boil some water and pour it down the thermostat pipe neck?

How much coolant did you add to the system?

check the water pump

Ok a little more information I should have added... I just installed a brand new water pump, thermostat and radiator. I added a little past the full on the coolant reservoir. No coolant seems to even be getting at the thermostat....

Ok, I just poured some boiling water onto the thermostat and I am positive it opened up... Still no go.... I also noticed my oil pressure gauge went up to 60 lb*in and all the way down to 0 lb*in... Is this normal? (It kept fluxing back and forth... not immediately but slowly...)

OOOK... Well now I filled the radiator full of coolant and left the cap off. Cranked the car, started fine, I could fill the coolant in the hose going to the thermostat because it got hot, but there was still a lot of air in the tube.. I could clamp it closed easily with my hand.... And my car got severly close to H..... Anyone have any ideas.. please, I am desperate.

Ok, my last update. Maybe someone can help me figure this out....

First off the history. My car has been having slight heating problems and because of fear of overheating I bought a new radiator, thermostat, and water pump. So I installed the waterpump, and while going to install the thermostat I noticed that there was none installed to begin with. (This may be important...) SO I shruged it off and installed mine anyway.

Ok, as you have read by now, my car was sending no fluid to the thermostat or radiator. Well, I finally filled the radiator with coolant instead of the reservoir and it seemed to do the trick, so I thought.

Car Idled for a good 15 20 minutes. Was at a normal operation temp so I decided to take it for a little test spin. I made it about a mile and the temps were fine, then all the sudden the car stalled really bad and then the temp guage went to H and the car died... The only thing that sounded like it was running was the fan.

Naturally I poped the hood and looked around for a blown hose or something, but there was nothing. I noticed the radiator neck hose was swollen a little. So I felt the temp of it by grabbing it and I can tell you it was Fing hot. Now this is where I was wondering what I should do... Should I remove the thermostat again and see if the car will run like it did before? Or is there something else I should check into.

I poured boiling water down the thermostat pipe neck and it sounded like the thermostat had opened and the fluid was running down into the waterpump but I could have been wrong. In any case, I plead with someone to help me. :(

ok is there something blocking the radiator outlet? check for blockage like if something say packing materials got iont the radiator and is clogging things up. and check your cap. make sure its working properly.

Radiator is not blocked... And what ya mean by checking the cap, what should I check for? No radiator fluid or air pressure seems to be getting out.

Don't trust your temperature guage entirely. If it is not covered in coolant (meaning its in air) then it will read hot because air heats up faster and to a higher temperature than the coolant will.

Ok guys, first off I wanna apologise for being such a dumbass and flooding with questions..

I took the thermostat out today and I boiled the shit out of it, never opened.. It finally opened after like 10 minutes of boiling. I cooled it off and it closed, then I droped in back in and it opened quick this time, and did it a few more times just to make sure and all was good. I stuck it back in and now the car is acting kinda weird... I turn it on and it shakes really bad and idles at 300rpm.... It wont die, it stays on but shakes badly, then if I give it gas it stops shaking at about 800 rpm, anywhere above that is good.... Do i need to adjust my idling since the guy before me had no thermostat? (I ask cause maybe he changed it due to removing the thermostat...) My next question is the temp guage for the coolant, it is on the termostat neck pipe? The one that sticks up for the little wire to clamp on? I ask because I can rotate that thing about 360 degrees and it looks like it is old and may need to be replaced. If anyone has pictures maybe I can confirm it, I have no digital camera.

But besides that, thanks for putting up with me and helping me through this. I really appreciate it.

first off let me say damn, i had no idea u didn't put coolant into the radiator. now since i don't know the year u have, i've mainly delt with 1st gens and there is 2 sensors on the rear housing under the oil filter, one is for oil pressure and the other is temp. the temp sensor is usually the smaller one. as for the shaking, it may only be running on one rotor. sorry i can't be of more help, it's hard for me to assess problems without actual hands on.

I understand, the car I have is a 88 AE Turbo. I had put coolant into the radiator just not into the thermostat neck pipe, so no fluid was getting to the thermostat... But now the problem is the idling thing, and on top of that it wont start now that I shut it off... Its acting like it is flooded or something, if it does start it dies quickly... Rechecking AFM and pipes to make sure I dont have a leak, so far no good. :(

Sounds like you need to adjust your idle. I'm not sure what generation of RX-7 you have, but I am sure that none of them idle well at 300 rpm and that idle should be around 800 rpm.