Will a bad water pump in a 2000 Malibu cause blow

SOURCE: 2000 Intrigue Oldsmobile over heating

I have a 2000 Intrigue that had the same overheating problem only when it gets below 0 degrees. I read many forums on this matter and it only got me more confused. It had thumping in the heater hose lines when it got hot. So here is what I did to cure the problem....I first installed a new thermostat that I purchased from NAPA Auto-$43. I noticed that it has a small one way valve built into the housing. I took a 1/8 inch drill bit and drilled down through the hole to make it a 2 way hole so coolant could get through (and air could escape when bleeding the system). I then took off the purge tank and flushed it out with hot water to get all of the crud out of it. When I reinstalled all of the hoses and thermostat, I coated the gasket seal and inside the hoses with high temp RTV. I also took off those wierd squeeze clamps and used the screw type hose clamps. I suspected that it was drawing air into the system when it cooled down and with the RTV and new clamps, that problem was eliminated! I reinstalled the surge tank and filled with 50/50 mixture of Dex Cool, then started the engine. I opened the bleeder valve on the top right corner of the radiator and left it open until a good steady stream of antifreeze came out. I kept putting antifreeze into the surge tank until it came up to the full cold mark. Then I left the pressure cap off and drove the car for about 10 miles at normal speed. During this time I had the heater running on high. When I stopped the car I added enough antifreeze to bring the surge tank level to full hot and put the pressure cap on. I then drove it for another 10 miles or so and checked the level, right on the full hot line. By the way, I also put on a new pressure cap. For $7 it was worth the money. I drove the car around for about another hour and the temp gauge only got up to a little over 1/4! Oh, I also put a new serpentine belt, just because the old one had 60,000 miles on it. So for $43 (new thermostat), $7 (new pressure cap), $12 (more Dex Cool), $24 (new serpentine belt), and $20 (new clamps, High Heat RTV, etc) the problem is fixed!! The reason I drilled out the hole in the thermostat housing was for air to escape when bleeding the system. This was the one and only time I have had problems with overheating, just in real cold temps, and I hope it never comes back! So for a little over $100 (MUCH less than a garage would charge!), you can do the same thing with a few tools.