Cooling problem

[iliketocrash]

this isn't about a nissan but its about my beater car but i really hope someone here can help me. its a rather generic question.

so i got the car a few days ago. the first day i had it i drove all day and put about 100 miles on it. at the end of the day i was driving home from the gas station and noticed the car was overheating considerably. went home, checked for leaks, added some coolant and drove it. still overheating but if i parked it for a minute or coasted down a large hill the car would cool right back down to op temp. so i changed the thermostat apon the reccommendation of a few friends. now the car overheats horribly and won't cool down. the coolant level is still the same so i know its not eating coolant. plus i checked my oil for coolant and my exhaust. one thing... the hose going from the radiator to the thermostat is really hot but the return hose from the block is cold. what does this mean?

[T88lexus]

possible thingthermostat is in backwardthermostat is badradiator is clugged up.

[cuzan0]

whats the year make and model of the car????? if it has a clutch fan the clutch could be bad or if it uses electric fans they could be bad or even the coolant fan switch could be the problem

[pulsar gtr]

Iam pretty sure the thermostate is installed in backwards, that explains the cold pipe on the rad and the horrible over heating.

PULSAR GTR

[iliketocrash]

well its not the thermostat. i pulled it out. there is a rubber o-ring type deal that you put around the edge of the thermostat and the rubber piece kinda sits on a lip on in the housing so you can't slide the thermostat in too far and so it seals the housing because there is no actuall gasket for the housing. so i pulled off the rubber thing and just set it inside the lip of the housing and bolted her shut. so with no thermostat the car still overheated but now both pipes are extremely hot. something i did notice is that i have no heat when i turn the heat on in my car. does this mean waterpump? also i just noticed a weird sound like air escaping from a tire near my belts. oh yeah its a 1996 mazda 626 LX 4cyl.fans work fine and thermostat was not in backwards

[iliketocrash]

oh yeah. my car idles at about 1500 rpms now, from the time i start it to the time it gets shut down. occasionally when i go into neutral the idle will bounce 3 or 4 times between 750 and 2000 rpms before it settles back at 1500.