Thread: theorizing on rising engine temps

Originally Posted by SyntheticShield

When my radiator was clogged up with Dex-Crap I could be driving down the highway at 70mph and the temps would still climb. Albeit, very slowly, but up nonetheless. In the city (at a traffic light or at a stop) the temps would continue to rise, a little faster too, but would not cool off after I got going.

So it could be a partial clog somewhere but the only way to detect that accurately is with a IR Non-contact thermometer. But I would start with the cap first. GM revised the cap somewhat. For what reason I dont know, but I had the OEM cap on mine when I bought it and when I picked up another trying to figure out my cooling issue the new GM cap was rather different.

Also, are we sure the CTS is good? I cant imagine it going bad and exhibiting the issue you describe, but if you had access to one to swap out with, it might be worth a look if for no other reason than to rule it out.

the temps are fine on the car if im driving at a decent speed.. so by comparison to how your car acted when the radiator was clogged, that doesnt seem to be my problem.


i suppose the CTS could be faulty, but in the situations that i describe, it doesnt seem to jive with that, unless the cts was just reading x number of degrees higher all the time...