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why my car overheats

P

ponntiacgirls

New member
When I set at a red light for awhile or in traffic my car over heats has plenty of coolant in the radiator and in the overflow tank, replaced water pump, upper radiator hose, thermostat
 


My guess is air is trapped or the coolant temp sensor it wrong.

The sensor puts out a reading to the dash and the computer. You can use a scan tool to see if the computers temp is in line with what the gauge reads. The gauge cluster isn't super accurate but if the cluster shows half way or a little less and the computer shows 190-195 you are fine but if the cluster is showing 3/4 or more on the gauge and the computer is at 190-195 then the ECT is likely at fault.
 
BigNelson76 said:
Bought mine with dexcool + green coolant.... sludge caused this and messed up the tstat.
Click to expand...

Straight dexcool will sludge too. You need to flush out the system. Radiator could be clogged in some areas too, use a laser temp reader to check that. Coolant passages in the engine could be clogged too with sludge.
 


Old dexcool sure, but it's not nearly as disgusting as a old dexcool new green mix.

I was pretty ticked.


I've had Zero issues with new dexcool.
 
I recently witnessed what dex cool does to an engine. When I pulled the heads off of my 07 just about all the passages were plugged with hardened dex cool crap. There was no flush in the world going to get that stuff out.
 
Temp Sensor/sending unit would be my go to change.

Did you have a catastrophic failure at one point which lead to all the work you've done or are you throwing parts at the problem?

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Right, but you're describing a temperature issue, did it have a catastrophic overheat or are you replacing all of these cooling parts trying to track down the issue?

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well the water pump was shot and the upper hose blew out on a road trip so if that what you are talking about when you say catastrophic over heat then i would say yes
 
Typically catastrophic overheat is when the gauge spikes due to major component failure, like the radiator getting a large hole the water pump or serpentine failing and it going unnoticed. Losing a hose can sometimes fall into this category if it goes unnoticed for long enough to cause damage.

That said, replace sending into/sensor. Should be screwed into the cover plate for the thermostat iirc.

Also, I didn't see it answered apologies if you did, is it actively overheating or is the gauge just overheating?

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well it seams to be the gauge over heating but not to sure this car is a mess but i think it can be saved poor car just needs some loving
 


I had the same problem after replacing the same parts you mentioned. I fixed it by putting in a fresh radiator. I think I could have solved it by removing the old radiator and power washing it. There was large areas that were filled in with gunk preventing the air to flow through the radiator.
 
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