kountrygal318

Ok so, the other day when I tried to turn on my a/c it only blew hot air never had that problem before, also the hi-lo button only worked if I turned it mid way, and as I sat at the red light my car went up up up and to the red mark on the gauge. turned the heater on and that was a temporary fix, because the car still ran hot. I recently got my radiator flushed, didn't see any visible leaks, My uncle came over and tightened the hoses, that didn't work. also noticed my coolant is a real sludgy nasty color asked the guy who flushed my radiator why he said it was normal. this is a 2006 chevy equinox

ruley73

Make sure your cooling fans are working. They should run whenever the A/C is turned on. If they are not running, unplug and reconnect the plugs for both fans and see what happens. Only do this with a cold engine that is turned off because the fans could turn on unexpectedly if the engine is too hot.

I'm betting that your coolant looks funky because not all the old coolant was removed and they probably didn't put Dex-Cool back in. The green universal extended-life coolant works fine, but it is not orange/pink like Dex-Cool. Getting all the coolant out is almost impossible unless the cooling system is drained and refilled multiple times while running the engine for a bit in between. Only about two-thirds of the coolant can be removed through the radiator drain plug. The coolant drain plug also needs to be removed from the engine block to get most of the coolant out.

Lastly, can you clarify what you're referring to as the "hi-lo button"? I'm thinking you were referring to the blower fan speed setting, but please confirm. That would probably be a separate issue if this the case.

kountrygal318

Thanks for the reply ruley73. I did notice that the fans were not kicking in when the air was on nor when the car was overheating. this could be our problem. possibly a fuse or the fan motor?

ruley73

Yes, the fans not running is causing the engine to overheat and the A/C to not cool because there is no air flowing through the radiator and A/C condenser. Checking the fuses and relays isn't a bad idea, but first try disconnecting and reconnecting the plugs going to the fans before doing anything else. It is a common problem on the Equinox/Torrent for the cooling fans to not work due to a bad connection there.