I bought a timing belt kit (timing belt, water pump, acessory belts)knowing that my cars used and would need it in the near future. My car was driving perfectlywonderful before i did the job, but you know how they say; usually it shows no signs of failing and then when it does it will beat the worst possible moment. So after many weeks dreading doign the r & r, i finally got down to work. things came out and went in with relative ease. It ran the engine for a good 30 min and it was fine. I was tired and it was dark and cold so i waited to drive until the next day.

The next day, i attempted to take it around the block. around the corner a few houses down i lost my power steering. i checked it, and a bolt (holding the ps hose toward front of car. could have been me, could have not been me, who knows)had been almost completely off its threads and the top to the tank popped off (caused by the bolt in SOME way i suppose). after tracing the line of ps fluid drips, i found the top. i went home and filled the tank back up(with the right stuff) and tightened the bolt. power steering worked but was a little loud for a while and was slipping. the old one was fine so i put it back on in a jiffy and solved the slipping. now the pump is loud and sounds like a big raised suv on big *** mud tires, plus the fluid always foamed (before all the rest of the things put the car to rest).

----This took up pretty much the whole day----
i figured it was no biggy so i drove it up to my friends house about 15 miles away. for some reason, i hadnt realized the temp needle had rissen above the top line when i was close to my friends house. i stopped at a gas station to find the coolant overflow tank was empty (i had made sure the system was good to go before i left home). i waited there for a few HOURS until it cooled completely. i checked the oil and it all got burned up. i filled it to where its supposed to be. I turned on the car and the temp was all the way down. when i started it it almsot imediatelly rose to opperating temp(about 2/5 of the range, at this point, the engine was hot and both hoses were WARM and SOFT) and then it started to idle up and down i think between 1000 and 1550rpm. i noticed the fans were not runnung. the temp already rose 3/4 and i didnt want it to get any higher so i stopped it. I started and stopped the engine a bunch of times and did a whole lotta other crapwithin all this. i "shortened" the story for the readers sake.

The car and i were in enough pain so i parked it at my friends house.

so the problems are
overheats right away(with mysterious soft hoses, ooOOooOooOoooo)
fans not running
idle surging
ps pump sounds like a buttload of synchronized angry bees

The lovely coupe 97 ex went from prestine to buzzing, scolding, paper weight within 2 days. I suspect that the water pump is faulty. i haven't been able to get back to my 5th gen(oh i love it so)yet for 2 days because of recent important matters so im stuck here trying to figure out in my head what COULD be bad and wherejump infirst. PLEASE HELP WITH ANY IDEAS GUYS! AND GALS!

 

How much coolant did you have to add? If you lost ALL of your coolant so quickly, you should definitely see a coolant leak somewhere. Inspect the bleed holes for the water pump. You could have torn/pinched the seal while installing the water pump or damaged a radiator hose or even the radiator. Maybe take off the upper timing belt cover to make sure the new timing belt isn't soaked in coolant. Make sure that you screwed the cap down on the coolant resivoir and the radiator cap is tight and not leaking.

The irradic idle is most likely from air in the system and screwing up temp sensor A. Did you open the bleeder screw on top of the thermostat when you were filling up the radiator until all the air was out. Did you remember to close it when done? The temp sensor also controls the radiator fans (did you reattach the plug?). To check the fans, start the car and turn on the A/C. Both fans should turn on instantly.

This could be something major, like a bad water pump, etc. I would check the simple things first, because it seems like everything went wrong at once and its all coolant/temp related.

Good Luck.

 

I had to add maybe half a gallon. I didn't see any leak. I bled the system until the air stopped. I think that the water pump cant get the water in front of it moving (because its defective maybe) and i got an illision of it being bled because the fluid that was in front of it flowed enough and didnt have any air in it .The ac turned on immediately. i temp unplugged the ac to keep the fans running to get it to the house. The car is now at my house (towed it using a rented dolly). I havent got a chance to get back and look at it though. In the mean time, keep the ideas coming. Thanks for the help.