I’m not a mechanic at all. But I have no money. So I left figuring it out with YouTube and you wonderful people in forums. On the 2.2 l 1998 Chevrolet cavalier, does it have a bleeder valve or a jiggle pin in the thermostat? I replace the thermostat and I didn’t see a jiggle pin spot. But it’s leaking a little bit. So I’m going to take it apart and look at the gasket which I may have put on incorrectly. When I first got it that put the gasket around the rim of the thermostat and it fit perfectly on there. But that’s not the way the old one was. It was just stuck in there not attached to the thermostat at all. I found that cumbersome when I put it back together because there’s nothing to hold that gasket right where you want it when you first put it in there if it is just kind of Free falling in there. Like I told you I’m not a mechanic LOL
If the old thermostat does not have a bleed hole or jiggle valve then the new one generally won’t either. Not all cars have these.
The gasket does exactly that… lay there. I personally smear a little RTV sealer on at least one side to hold it in place while I install the outlet. On older cars, I’ll even ditch the gasket and lay a bead of RTV sealant only to seal things in case the surfaces have warped or pitted. That might be your problem.
I have a can of high tack gasket sealant in the shop that I use that holds the gasket in place in that situation.
Spray one side of the gasket, and place it on the component for five minutes before installing.
Tester
Update: firstly let me thank the people who replied. That’s exactly what I did. Put some JB weld to make sure I got a good seal. I found bleeder valve and loosened it but had a heck of a time getting anything to come out of it. Finally got a little something. Squeeze the hoses and all that stuff to get bubbles out. Checked to make sure the coolant level was correct. Started it up and the gauge remained at zero for quite a little while. Then it shot up to mid-range and stayed there for maybe a minute. Then it went down to zero again and that’s where it is now. I had heater on and got heat. So now I’m back to zero on the gauge. but it went up for a minute. I have to assume the thermostat problem is taking care of because it’s not leaking and it’s a brand new thermostat right? It can’t be stuck open is why the gauge is zero. I went ahead and replaced that because I reasoned that it was a cheap possible fix and it probably might have needed it anyway certainly look like it did when I looked at the old thermostat and its gasket. So what conditions causes the gauge to be at zero if it’s not the thermostat being open? From what I read needing it to be bled would cause overheating not under. should I move on to sensor or switch? Crazy side bit of information. I tried to put the OBD2 on it because this problem will sometimes throw a code I read. But my OBD plug doesn’t seem to work cuz we tried to obd readers and they were the kind that needed the power from the plug.
The coolant reservoir is higher than the engine, this should make it easy to bleed the air from the engine.
With the engine off, open the bleed screw. Add coolant to the reservoir to the full mark, wait for the air to escape from the bleed screw, keep the reservoir full. Close the bleed screw, operate the engine for three minutes, elevate the engine speed to 2500 rpms for 30 seconds. Switch the engine off and open the bleed screw again. For the air to escape from the engine, the cooling system cap must be removed.