Car randomly begins to start climbing passed it's normal operating temperature on a drive on a highway about 30 miles South of me. Never gets to crazy and always settles down.

I get to destination and begin hauling locally to a studio. Temps begin to rise and don't stop. I quickly turn car off before it hits red. I wait about 30-40 minutes and turn car back on. Car stays in normal operating temp and never climbs. Weird huh?

Begin my drive back North. Stays normal until I get on the onramp. Temp begins to rise. Pullover and wait. Do this about 2 more times... last time the car is fine and drives home about 15 miles with no issue?

I drive the car locally and it gets to normal operating temp and no issue.

So I add coolant and then I change Radiator Cap. I turn car on to get to operating temp and start to drive it. Starts overheating. Luckily I was only cruising around my block. What gives?

Think there could be air in my system? But how would that get there all of a sudden? The coolant was pretty low. Not crazy low but it was definitely low. Fans do turn on btw.

 

Anyone? Please!

 

My car began to overheat the other day while driving. But the needle would drop back to normal when i would stop. I noticed i had low coolant, so i added coolant, and changed my radiator cap as well. I let it warm up completely, then drove it around the block, and everything seemed fine. I would say check your thermostat, maybe gunk as built up on it and its not allowing it to close.
-Joel

 

Yea i'll check that out...

I just drove it about 1 mile and it did it again.

I let it sit for 30 minutes. Drove it back home and it started all over again. So I turned it off and cruised @ 35mph or so for a good 1/2 mile. Turned it back on... because now i'm at a light. Car goes back up again. So I gain some speed and turn it back off. Turn it back on at another light and the car goes back to normal!

 

Also make sure that the front of the radiator doesn't have crap covering it. When i took it out to do my cam, i pulled out a bunch of leaves and just small bits of garbage. It wasn't enough to cause it to overheat, but a good amoutn of build up can easily cause a problem. Tonight im going to drive it around a bit more than i did on friday when i added coolant and a new radiator cap. Hopefully all the problems are gone, good luck.
-Joel

 

electric fans workin??? cut your a/c on and see if they kick on. the fans should come on as soon as you turn on the air. i had a relay die which caused my car to run hot in traffic.

 

nevermind my comment... i see now where you posted that the fans do come on. ha ha sorry.

 

Ok I changed the themrostat and refilled it with coolant. The car DID NOT overheat at idle. I let it sit there for about... 10-15 minutes? Car never went passed 210. I pulled away about 15 feet. Stopped because I wanted to close and put away a few things. I hear fans kick and when I get back to the car (About 25 seconds later) damn near by the red already!!

What gives?!