Is it possibly my waterpump for the radiator system? That is my ultimate guess. The fact is, the car runs VERY cool when im driving, even at low speeds. But when I stop at a stop light, the thermostat goes up after sittin for a few min. Never higher than the half way point of 210 (I think thats the half way point) anyway, it goes up high enough to kick the fans on, but regardless, the car should not heat up that high. It didnt use to do that. So something is up.

 

have you tried a radiator flush lately, the fluid could just need to be replaced.

 

Check your electric fans they may not be working?

 

thermostat stuck open would be a possibility

 

You need to hook a scanner up to see what the actual coolant temp is when at a stop. The gauge is BS.

 

The car would be hotter when you are sitting, and cooler when you are moving, I would bet it is your thermostat.

 

He has a 98 tho I think. '98's are the only ones with a correct temp guage right? Anyways coolant flush,mabe thermo state or fans could be bad.

 

could have air bubbles or a bad cap

 

I had the same problem with my car but after i had the radiator flushed out and filled with good coolant it never saw that problem again.

 

i had that problem im my old 96 6 cylinder, turned out to be the fan wasnt clicking on and caused me to over heat. but it i was going cool air was getting to the engine so it sayed cool.

 

My car does this too, but I have heard that it is normal and nothing to worry about. The fans don't even activate until 227 (one fan) and 235 (both). That being said, it's always a good idea to make sure there is no air in there and to get it flushed periodically.

 

I think that might be it...

 

ill say its the waterpump when was the last time you flushed your radiator???

 

As long as you're not past the 210 mark, youre not hurting anything. Mne gets that hot idling in bad traffic around here.

 

The fans are not programmed to turn on until somewhere around 240 degrees so it is not getting hot. With the a/c off and sitting in traffic it will warm up bc there is no airflow across the condensor and radiator until the pcm commands the fans.

 

well the thing is I recently had some problems with a hose that blew off and blew out all the fluid, I was doing some trial and error tests trying to fix a few things, build a new hose and some other things, so I've had to replace the fluid completely a few times, so I know for a fact the fluid isnt bad. And I've checked the air bubbles thing several times, no air comes out. So its not that either...and as for the thermostat, i just replaced that about a month or so ago...whenever I was doing some trial and errors, so its not that either....what was the comment about someone said my cap might be bad? because whenever the car starts to get hot in idle, i start to smell fluid, is it possible the lids go bad? the pressure cap? i never thought of that...and i duno, its either that or the waterpump....i just think its something because car use to never do that before, so its not normal, that i kno...

 

Yeah a cap can go bad but is it getting hot on the gauge way past 210 or is it just warming up then the fans come on cool off etc.

 

first thing you need to do is go under the car and look to see whats jammed in the radiator. on my camaro i was doing the oil change and in the front of the radiator there was a black garbage bag and leaves and paper sucked up in it. i pulled it all out and now the car runs alot cooler. another thing check to make sure both fans are working. both my old 95 and 97 had a fan go out which make it do the same as your. also flush the radiator. but remmeber to bleed the lines. goodluck!