overheating problem after thermostat change

[xplosive1687]

I have a 1999 honda accord, I recently changed the thermostat. I did as I read on all different forums to pour coolant in the radiator slowly until the bleeder valve has coolant coming out. I closed it up but over tightened did not snap bolt but the piece around it. shop in town grinded the screw to fit in there. upper radiator hose was getting hot while running it. took it down the road the thermostat was fluctuating up and down. brought it home and ran the car the hoses got hot upper much hotter then lower. didnt see anymore leaking after the bolt was grinded to fit but left the car running for a while came back there was a bit of smoke coming from near the housing and the car was overheating while idle. tried to bleed again and I figured with the leaks i had from the bolt before maybe it needed more antifreeze so i put more in and went to go a few miles down the road gauge was shooting right up and smoke was coming out idk if coolant hit the wires around there but i had to keep pulling over. hoses were hot so i assumed the thermostat was opening. I believe it was an oem style replacement it was 20 bucks from nappa and i installed it with the jiggle pin up excactly how the old thermostat so i dont think that it put in correctly although i havent took it back out to check. i tried to rebleed today, when i squeezed the lower hose it would spit out some air so i kept doing it till it wasnt puffing out air. nothing happened when i squeezed the upper radiator. i poured coolant until i seen it come out the bleeder valve closed it up and then ran it it was running fine but heat then as soon as i turned the heat on the screw had coolant spitting out the top idk if some how the screw has a hole in the top or not now but heat didnt feel to hot i took it down the road and it was starting to over heat didnt redline but the heat was blowing out nice and hot but i pulled back in my yard and smoke was coming from around the housing def. had some hot coolant splashing out from the top of the bleeder screw. i havent done anything since I am so confused on what to do. my oil cap on my motor has no milky residue on it. dipstick has normal looking oil on it. no antifreeze coming out the exhaust or oil just char when you reach in. please help me. I am so confused on what to do. main thing that confused me is i only really seen air coming out when i squeezed the lower hose today but im not sure on if i was supposed to be looking for air in the radiator cap or by the bleeder screw because the first time i tried bleeding it def. did not see any air bubbles coming out the bleeding valve

[xplosive1687]

ok so fingers crossed its taken care of. for anyone else that might have this problem ill let you know. it was basically air in the line with a piece of the bleeder screw broken in the thermostat housing. I loosend behind the housing to the water outlet and drilled the little broken piece out and put water down it till it came out the other side (seeing i had it hanging away from the water outlet) then i found a bigger bolt hammered it in the hole to make the thread because it wasnt working at first. then basically made a threat for a bigger bolt. so then when on to bleed it and finally sealed it up. coolant was coming out rapidly before because it wasnt sealed. the smoke that I saw coming was merely steam from spilled coolant that I could not see to well the other day pulled it in a bright sunny spot and wiped as much as I can from where I saw the spills. no overheating and airs blowing nice and hot. actually calmed down a rough idle I was having for a while. idles better then its been in a long long time. drove it around again around town cranking it here and there going up hills drove around for like 10 mins tempature gauge stayed about little less then half way up and stayed there. got out both radiator hoses were hot a little steam coming from around where I spilled the cap but no overheating cars running good. hopefully after a few days whatever spilled coolant that I cant reach will eventually be gone.

[James Matteu]

Good job.