Replaced water pump and thermostat and now no heat!

[charliefloyd]

I have a 2008 Jeep commander and the water pump went out. I replaced the water pump and thermostat and thought everything was fine. Wrong. I drove it for 15 minutes on the freeway and the water temp gauge shot up to red. It got so hot a display came on and said "check gauges". I have left my vehicle in a parking lot for the night to cool down. What did I miss? I've replaced water pumps before in other vehicles with no problem.

 

[tntchitwood]

I mostly mess with older junk jeeps, but, in my experience with them, it sounds as though you did not put enough coolant back in it.
You have to let it run quite awhile, (15-20 mins), with the radiator cap off till the thermostat opens and the radiator level goes down enough to fill the engine block. This will get all the air out of the system.
I am not sure this will apply to your newer jeep. Somebody more knowledgeable (thank-you spell check) will probably chime in and give a better answer.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Is it possible the thermostat was installed backwards?

 

[charliefloyd]

I mostly mess with older junk jeeps, but, in my experience with them, it sounds as though you did not put enough coolant back in it.
You have to let it run quite awhile, (15-20 mins), with the radiator cap off till the thermostat opens and the radiator level goes down enough to fill the engine block. This will get all the air out of the system.
I am not sure this will apply to your newer jeep. Somebody more knowledgeable (thank-you spell check) will probably chime in and give a better answer.

Thanks! that was the thing that I forgot and it worked like a charm

 

[SteelHeadz]

3.7,4.7's has a bleed screw on the top of the upper radiator hose housing to the block. If i remember correctly it uses an 8mm allen wrench. You must purge the air out through this bleed screw to properly fill the cooling system. Also check to make sure your cooling fans are operating properly.