03 1.8 overheating problem
 

one nite while driving out of the blue the low coolent lite comes on so i check the expansion ball tank and it appears to be coolant in it so i get the car towed home,thinking that i need a new thermostat i spend several hours changing the thermostat (i checked the old thermostat out and it was good).i then fill the expansion ball tank thing with coolant and off i go but the car still overheats .im wondering if the problem could be that the new coolant has not gotten into the engine or radiator.i know that some cars coolant systems have to be purged of air pockets and i know alot of coolant came out of the engine when i had the thermostat out and it seems as if only a small amount of new coolant has gone from the expansion tank to the radiator or engine.and also now i have no heat.i know that its probably the water pump gone bad but im hoping that maybe luck would have it that the system justneeds to be purged.and if it does need to be purged then how is that done cause there is no purge valve to be seen. any suggestions?thanks

RE: 03 1.8 overheating problem
 

hey, i actually just recently had the same problem as you. I was driving one night and all of a sudden the engine temp light sky rocketed right to max so i pulled over and check the engine but nothing seemed to be wrong.. when i got home that night i heard some sort of bubbling come from the engine, course thats not a good sign..i bring it to my mechanic the following morning and let him check it out. Turns out, it was one of my coolant fans that werent work right.. BUT because of the overheating, i had to replace the water pump as well..