So I bought this little car for a whopping $750. The guy said the car had overheated on them and that there was a pinhole in the filler neck. (94 with a 2.0 ltr). I welded the pin hole shut and thought I had it fixed and the first time it fires up, it blows a radiator hose. I replace all of the hoses and belts while I am at it. My feeling is that the car sure did have a lot of pressure. All then seems well. I drive it on a 50 mile journey to work and when I get off the highway and come to a stop, the gauge goes about to redline. I give it gas and make my turn and it goes right back down. I drive it home another 50 miles at the end of the day with the same results. I had flushed the radiator and figured that there was a massive air bubble that came out during the drive which caused a lack of coolant. It overheated by the time I got home and spooged a good bit of coolant into the resevoir. After it cooled it sucked it ALL back in. I filled it back up (didn't really take much) and then let it idle for like 1/2 hour, drove it for 20 mins, came back and let it idle again and it worked fine. Got up to like middle mark, fan came on it cooled, went off and repeated this cycle over and over. While I let it run I did notice bubbling in the resevoir as it was running but the water level in it went up to a certain level and never higher. I think i put too much water in the system, it got rid of what it didn't want and it was fine. Is there supposed to be a stream of air bubbles coming up from the bottom of the resevoir where the hose goes into it? No water in oil and no oil appears in water although I didn't check prior to the flush. Any other things I can look for? Thanks.

nope there isn;t supposed to be a stream of air bubbles it could be you air locked the heater cor and its slowly pushing the air out... to properly refill it you should fill the rad up idle the car untill you notice the rad fluid syphon ( quickkly gets sucked out and keep filling you should let it cycle through 3 thermostate opening to make sure for no air bubbles... if you have the car with no actuall filler neck there should be a bleader port on the heater core tube just fill it up through there ( my tempest has both so it makes it easier)

also if your coolant is dissapearing it could be its being evaporated and burned when it leaks into a cylinder... my nephews Cavalier is doing the same thing and its traced to a blown head gasket leaking the coolant straight into the cylinder)

So I bought this little car for a whopping $750. The guy said the car had overheated on them and that there was a pinhole in the filler neck. (94 with a 2.0 ltr). I welded the pin hole shut and thought I had it fixed and the first time it fires up, it blows a radiator hose. I replace all of the hoses and belts while I am at it. My feeling is that the car sure did have a lot of pressure. All then seems well. I drive it on a 50 mile journey to work and when I get off the highway and come to a stop, the gauge goes about to redline. I give it gas and make my turn and it goes right back down. I drive it home another 50 miles at the end of the day with the same results. I had flushed the radiator and figured that there was a massive air bubble that came out during the drive which caused a lack of coolant. It overheated by the time I got home and spooged a good bit of coolant into the resevoir. After it cooled it sucked it ALL back in. I filled it back up (didn't really take much) and then let it idle for like 1/2 hour, drove it for 20 mins, came back and let it idle again and it worked fine. Got up to like middle mark, fan came on it cooled, went off and repeated this cycle over and over. While I let it run I did notice bubbling in the resevoir as it was running but the water level in it went up to a certain level and never higher. I think i put too much water in the system, it got rid of what it didn't want and it was fine. Is there supposed to be a stream of air bubbles coming up from the bottom of the resevoir where the hose goes into it? No water in oil and no oil appears in water although I didn't check prior to the flush. Any other things I can look for? Thanks. :banghead: JUst went through this very same thing, with my 92 convertible. Had exact symptoms and a little rough idle thrown in for good measure. Did cyl leak test and found leakage. Pulled head and found cracks between valves on all cyls. contacted national cyl heal www.aluminumcylinderhead.com and swapped head for 300 bucks. make sure you use new head bolts as these gems are torque to yield meaning you need an angle guage. Job wasnt much fun but the car runs great now and gets great fuel economy. I plan to swap out the engine / trans for a warmed up 3.1.

Did you change the thermostat? I would start there first. If it runs really rough at start up and there is white smoke, then you have a bad head gasket. Also if it fills up the catch can and overheats, it is a bad head gasket. If it heats up then cools down, I would suspect a bad thermostat and I would also check that the fan is coming on at the right temp. or even at all.