Overheating! Help ASAP

[KIMS CRUZER]

I picked my car up this am. Took it out ran it for a hour with a/c on and off. Then I went to two drive thrus, sat in park with it running about 15 mins. It didn't overheat! The temp here is only 76 right now. Yeah.....Well I thought , lets see it I have heat. Guess what no heat. Now what? I heard the fan kick on when I turned a/c on. I'm going to check the thermostat part no.. They replaced the thermostat and radiator. I have the old parts. The radiator has alot of orange colored sludge coming out at the connection. Ok my PT friends, why no heat? It gets mighty cold in Cinti.

[scrisp2]

Hey Kim,

Your problem sounds remarkably like what I had happen a couple of years ago on a 92 Sunbird that I owned. I replaced the radiator, water pump, thermostat, fan and the replays, and nothing worked. I took it to a Pontiac dealership, they couldn't find any problem. Then, I took it to and old guy that owns a little grubby gas station on the corner and within 5 minutes he had replaced a fusible link that is in a harness bolted to my engine, and I never had a bit of problem again with it.

H told me to never go to a dealership with overheating problems, but to take it to a radiator shop, they can usually diagnose it quicker and cheaper.

I saw in your post where they wanted $530(?) to replace the radiator. That is outrageous!! I just had a 4 core heavy duty radiator replaced in a 70 Buick with a big block in it and it was only $175 and cools better than new.

I'm not sure about our PT radiators, I think they are aluminum right? Recoring may be harder to do with these, but I've seen aluminum racing radiators that don't cost $530. The radiator isn't that hard or time consuming to replace, so I would check another shop and go with your intuition about not trusting this shop. You gut feeling is usually right.

Scott