my gf's 01 sunfire keeps running hot. on my honda accord the water pump has a weep hole that drips when its bad.does the sunfire have one too?i cant trace any water dripping when its idling, i think its only when its being driven?help please.

 

Check the thermostat first and foremost. What motor is it? Most likely it's on the drivers side and the coolant hose will run into a thermostat housing with three bolts, inside that little guy is your thermostat, it's likely that's stuck closed if you have no signs of leakage elsewhere.

 

ill check the thermostat but we have to put in like 6qts of h2o every 4days.

 

ok i drove the car for 10 min and it got eqmn close to 200 degrees. theres no coolant in the oil. but i have no tools at my apt to take the thermostat out to see if thats where its leaking.theres a steady drip from underneath near the compressor bracket..if theres somone in the brandon area that could help after i get off of work tomorrow that could bring some tools that would be great. when i get paid i could pay you some money or buy you some beer.you can call me684-1953.thanks,,,,joe..

 

If I didn't have to work tomorrow I'd come help, bleh. Gotta love my Best Buy discounts though!. What motor is it?

If it's a big enough leak it could be not building enough pressure to open the thermostat. It's imperative I know which motor it is though

 

its the 2.2l automatic if that matters.

 

The Quad 4 was a 2.3, the 2.2 in the sunfire is a OHV, the only other motor it came with in 2k1 was the 2.4 Ecotec.

So yeah, the water pump is just under the alternator. There is also a few hoses you can check there's the lower hose on the passenger side and also the bypass hose, which is a small hose above the lower hose on that side. I know alot about that motor, learned it very quickly doing a headgasket on the GF's car

 

i know where the water pump and all the bs is i just dont have any tools at my apt to work on it & dont have the time to drive to south tampa to get them.i drive a truck to punta gorda every day.

 

If its leaking water, then the thermostat isn't the issue. Also, the thermostat isn't opened by pressure, its opened by heat. Its basically a piece of wax that melts at like 190 f or whatever its set to. 200 f is probably in the normal operating temp range. My old 88 camaro's fan wont even kick on until 220 degrees. I'd start to worry about heat at like 250.