Overheating 944 fixed!

[divezic]

Just wanted to update everyone who cares on my overheating 1984 944 (originally posted on 29 Sept 98). It kept wanting to overheat on highways and hills and was really bad with the a/c on. I needed to run the heater to keep it below the red area (or yellow area on my 944).
After changing the thermostat to a lower temp, no luck and a lot of cussing. For all you who are thinking of changing that %$^^%# thermostat, a word to the wise...get the best pair of internal snap ring tool you can afford and plenty of bandaids for your knuckles.
During my timing/balance belt job, my mechanic showed me that the bearing was going bad on my water pump. I changed the pump, but the car still overheated.
What's left...oh yea. The radiator. A new radiator from Pelican Parts and no more overheating problems!!! The old one was clogged and you can't caustic-dip or ultrasound an aluminum radiator. I heard that there are shops that can disassemble it and ream out the cooling tubes (I didn't find one) or get a new one for less than $200. The only problem I had was with the resivoir-to-radiator hose. The fitting to the after-market radiator was too small for this hose. I was able to tighten the hose/clamp enough to seal it but it looks bad and I'm not sure of the integrity of the seal.
For all you new guys/gals who are replacing your coolant, there is a special procedure and the Haynes manual doesn't explain it. I learned the hard way. 1-Before you attach the hose to your top-o-the-engine housing, use a funnel and flexible hose to fill the engine block with as much fluid as you can without spilling it. 2-With the hose attached to your radiator (not yet to the top-o-the-engine-block) fill the resivoir to the fill line. This should mostly fill your radiator also. 3-Lift the hose and start filling it just to the point that when you bend it down to attach it to the top-o-the-engine-block the coolant won't spill out. 4-Remove the bleed screw from the top-o-the-engine-block housing and carefully continue filling until its topped off. 5-Replace the bleed screw and your cooling system should be free of air. It helps a little if you have the front end raised on jack-stands.
If you have any questions please e-mail me at: divezic@hotmail.com