2011 Chevy equinox overheating

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The other night my 4cyl equinox overheated. Today I put a new thermostat and coolant cap, and topped off the coolant. It overheated again, and it there was no more coolant in the overflow tank. After topping off and driving and repeating three times.. it seems to get cooler or take longer to get too hot. Is there air in the system? I still am not getting heat through the vents. Is there a bleeder valve somewhere? Does anyone have a picture of it? Also does this car have an actual rad cap? If there is air in the system, how do I get it out? I hope it's not the water pump chain. How would I know, wouldn't have an audible difference if it was broken? Thanms.
 
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Too much coffee?

It sounds like you need the coolant system pressure tested. Also if the timing chain broke you would know it as the engine would not run.
 
Mileage? They have a pressurized system so no radiator cap.

Sounds like you need to get the air out of the system and go from there.
 
Take the upper radiator hose off at the engine, Point the hose up & fill the radiator full of coolant, Reinstall the hose & top-up the reservoir. Cycling the engine from idle to 2,000 RPM several times will help the thermostat open & bleed the remaining air out.

A Vacuum Filler would eliminate all these hassles with bleeding cooling systems.
 
If this is the same engine as in the Malibu then there is no air bleed valve. Should be easy to drain and refill coolant. Top up using the upper rad hose as Clinebarger suggested. The pressure cap is the cap on top of the plastic reservoir bottle. I would start the engine and feel the hoses going to the heater core. One should quickly get warm. The water pump is chain driven and the same chain drives the balance shafts. I doubt the chain could break and not cause other problems. You don't want a water pump problem they are a pain in the posterior to fix.
 
Originally Posted By: JLTD
Uh, did anyone else notice that OP has emptied the overflow tank 3x? I'm thinking a leak, possibly head gasket.
Sounds quite possible to me. Thats the problem I had with the old Montana was it kept pushing coolant out. Was the HG
 
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Before you go any further thinking it's head gasket or the likes, you have to get the air out! It's very hard to do on a lot of GMs. Try buying a Lisle spill free funnel and attach it where the cap goes on the pressurize surge tank. Don't overfill the system, let it run until the thermostat opens, then remove the funnel and put the cap back on and see if that takes care of the issue.

That's the easiest and cheapest method for burping a cooling system I know of. Had the exact same symptoms in our Impala many many times after doing anything with the cooling system - overheating and no heat out the vents. It was air everytime.
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac
Too much coffee?

It sounds like you need the coolant system pressure tested. Also if the timing chain broke you would know it as the engine would not run.


GM 2.2 and 2.4 Ecotech had 2 separate chains.
1 ran the cams, the other ran the waterpump and balance shafts.
It is possible for the W/p chain to break and the engine still runs fine. It is rare, but I have heard of an instance of this.

I would make sure the system is properly burped before jumping to any conclusions.
Run it with the cap off the surge tank until the thermostat opens and you get heat from the heater.
Jacking up the front end may help get the air out.

If this does not work, there is a plate on the timing cover you can take off to access the water pump sprocket to see if it is turning.
 
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