Temp Gauge Goes up at idle!

[Eliminat0r]

ok i cant figure this shit out for the life of me, ill take it for a lon g drive or short one and nothing happens car acts normal but sometimes when im driving after like 15 min of driving, when im sitting at a light the temp gauge will slowly rise, and then when it turns green and i take off it goes back down. well ive replaced the rad cap with an oem one and a thermostat from autozone. None of those fixed it, anyone know anyhtring else it could be, i hope i didnt get a bad thermostat.

 

[DSM_23]

hey man, im almost positive its your radiator fan , exact same thing happened to me, just make sure its pluged in or nuthings blocking the blades, my mbc slipped down there once and fried the fan motor, so i had to swap it out w/ another. Hope this helps

justin

 

[Eliminat0r]

nope cause whenever i check my fluids which i just did today i turn the car on and the both fans were running there always on, so i'm pretty sure thats not it.

 

[DSM_23]

hmm thats wierd, so do they run always no matter how hot the car is? (fans). I'd look back into that thermostat and possibly try an OEM one from the dealer.

justin

 

[Eliminat0r]

yep both fans are constanly on why are they not supposed to be? anyone have any idea what this could be i really dont wanna buy antoher mother ####ign thermostat, i ####ing hate autozone everything i get from them sucks ass.

 

[Eliminat0r]

also i just flushed and filled the radiator, would a warped head cause it to overheat like that. What tool do you use to tell if the head is warped cause it is finally nice out and i will be buying a new valve cover cause mine is cracked and new gaskets.

 

[DSM_23]

no the fans are not supposed to be on at all times, and if your head was warped then you would be mixing fluids, (oil in coolant etc), If your worried about having a warped head then do a compression test but i doubt thats the problem,

justin

 

[gaddis]

It could be an air bubble in the coolant system. Try burping the air out. Also could be a blown head gasket. Are you blowing coolant out the overflow bottle? Check to see how fast your radiator hoses become presurized. If they become pressurized before the car has reached opperating temperature, there is a good chance it's the head gasket.

 

[Eliminat0r]

well if its the hg i kill 2 birds with one stone, ill ahve a mutli layer HG and fix the colling problem, if its an air bubble it wont matter cuz im draiing all the fluids when i do it casue ill do it the same time i do an oilchange

 

[Eliminat0r]

well heres an update for ya, i was out driving it yesterday and everythnig was fine no temp gonig u[p it just stayed at midddle after car warmed up, i checked trans fluid and oil none of it has any trace of coolant in it. i went driving today and at the first light i stopped at the cars temp gauge went up slowly then i drove and it went back to normal, then the next light it stayed at normal then about 4 lights later the temp gauge started going up then when i took off it went back down, then abouit 5 minutes l8r when i pulled into MCC's parking lot, the temp gauge stayed fine. So im assuming its not the Headgasket because if it was it would constantly be doing this, air bubble and thermostat are a maybe and well thats all i can think of. Im gonna order an oem thermo fromte dealer cuz the last 2 i bought were from auto zone and well i replaced the first one and this willbe the 2nd one. is there any special way to put the thermo in, cuz last time i put it in the way it came out with the gold pin thing at 3:00.

 

[DragII]

when is the last time you changed the water pump?

 

[fasteclipse1992]

just take the themostat out.

from what u describe whenever i have that problem with my temp guage going up and down like that, its usually low on antifreese. the temp sending unit isnt getting a constant steady flow of coolant over it causing temp differences.

 

[Defiant]

Originally posted by fasteclipse1992
just take the themostat out.

:thumbdown Don't do this on anything built after 1975.

 

[sarah]

My car does the exact same thing. Runs fine til i'm idling somewhere (like a drivethru) then the temp gauge goes 3/4 to the top, then I start driving and it goes back down to normal I have a new head gasket, just flushed coolant, and the water pump isnt that old either.

 

[fasteclipse1992]

Originally posted by sarah
My car does the exact same thing. Runs fine til i'm idling somewhere (like a drivethru) then the temp gauge goes 3/4 to the top, then I start driving and it goes back down to normal I have a new head gasket, just flushed coolant, and the water pump isnt that old either.

well when your at a stop, your car isnt getting any air flow through the radiator. when your moving temp will drop because you are now getting airflow. is your fans on when your at a stop? check to see if your fan is coming on.

 

[abakja1]

Dont want to panic you out or anything,..But when was the last time you changed your timing belt??

I ask this cause on my car, my timing belt skipped (due to a hard run/acceleration) and made my timing gears off,.so this made my car overheat and driving it cooled it off. I noticed that you have a 90-91 car,..Take off you TB cover and make sure TB marks are aligned on sprockets,..

When my TB skipped, symptoms I had before it broke on me (and bent valves etc) was coolant overflowing from overflow bottle, temp needle on gauge going past 1/2 mark, and bubbling noises from cooling system,..

Just thought Id share my experiences before anything tragic happens to you,.If you havent changed your tb in over 50k miles,..better safe than sorry,..

Kevin

 

[Eliminat0r]

i have no idea when the t-belt was changed but it looks fine, i just took off the top cover and replaced it with another one and the belt looked fine.

 

[memory-x]

sorry to cut into this thread but i am having same troubles, only mine wont get hot, idleing such as drive thru a taco bell it gets up 1/4 of the way , when i drive , it pegs below C , and my heater dont get hot. iv replaced accessorey belt(blew it racing), thermastat, changed all fluids, spark plugs, wires. sound like me and ^ might have same problem

 

[Eliminat0r]

so youre saying it goes below c, cause mine was in air bubble and a thermo stuck in the closed positiong. if it doesnt get hot for a long time time to change the t-stat because its stuck OPEN

 

[memory-x]

i just replaced it not a week ago ... maybe i'll replace it again, cause thats what i was figureing too , that it was stuck open

 

[crankbender]

Problems such as these are usually a sign of a few possible problems.

#1 slow/stuck/wrong Tstat
#2 bad water pump
#3 plugged radiator
#4 low coolant level

We will assume you are able to catch #4 without any help

The most common causes are the first 2. To check this first take the tstat out and drive it a little (don't stress it as the thermals won't be correct). Did the problem get solved? If the answer was yes then buy a new/correct thermostat and try that.

If the problem persists or was not solved take off the top radiator hose and point it over the front grill. Start the car. Water should come SHOOTING out. If it doesn't then your water pump is bad (do this without a tstat in).

Usually the cooling system should have more than enough capability to handle any small problems at idle.

Hope this helps you.

 

[Eliminat0r]

please stop whoring my month old thread the problem is fixed if ytou have a new problem please make your own thread before you get people fixing my problem when you wnats yours fixed, also it was just an airlock in the system and a bad thermostat, i didnt really expect much out of a 5 doallr thermo anyways.

 

[LandoAWD]

Originally posted by Eliminat0r
please stop whoring my month old thread the problem is fixed if ytou have a new problem please make your own thread before you get people fixing my problem when you wnats yours fixed, also it was just an airlock in the system and a bad thermostat, i didnt really expect much out of a 5 doallr thermo anyways.

This is a forum, man. If people have the same problem, they will SEARCH like we ask them to and come to your thread. If you didn't have the decency to post what the fix was, you HAVE NO RIGHT to bi*** at people for continuing to post.

 

[Eliminat0r]

Originally posted by LandoAWD
This is a forum, man. If people have the same problem, they will SEARCH like we ask them to and come to your thread. If you didn't have the decency to post what the fix was, you HAVE NO RIGHT to bi*** at people for continuing to post.

but i did post the fix itsin the post you quoted! i dont care though whore it up ill just unsubscribe from this thread, i kept getting emails about it.

 

[LandoAWD]

Originally posted by Eliminat0r
but i did post the fix itsin the post you quoted!

Yeah, AFTER you bitched about perceived "whoring".