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I've had my car for over 2 years and have never had a problem with the cooling system. Now all of a sudden the temp needle is all over the place. I don’t really trust any of the stock gauges in my car, but it still worries me, ya know? The needle normally sits a little less than a quarter of the way up no matter what kind of driving I’m doing, and the last two days it has gone a little past the half way mark a few times. The way this happens is very strange to me though.
Monday and today I had to do a couple of things before I went to work. I drove the car about 20 minutes and everything was fine, nothing out of the normal. I’d get to where I was going, park, shut the car off, and go do what I had to do. I had the car off for maybe 5-7 minutes on Monday, and probably 2 minutes today before I got back in and started it to go on to the next place. Both times within probably a minute or so, the needle went from its normal zone, to a little over the half way mark!!! I’m wondering WTF?
Both times, as soon as I saw it was that high I stopped to check the coolant level and make sure nothing was leaking or smelled like coolant or anything. Everything looked fine both times.
I can drive with the AC on high with no problems until I shut the car off for a few minutes, then restart it. After that, having the AC on will raise the temp (according to the gauge
), so I have to drive around in the South Florida HEAT with the AC off when the needle gets up and starts to worry me.
I already have a 180* T-stat and a CustomChip along with 2 degree cooler plugs. Thursday I will have time to work on the car. I have already bought some more coolant, some radiator flush, and some Water Wetter. I plan to flush it out real well, hose out the fins, check the hoses, check the water pump, check the elec. Fan, and put new 50/50 water/coolant mixture in as well as the water wetter at the end. Is there anything else I should check or do? I want to flush the radiator out with the flush fluid I bought and force flush it with the garden hose. To do that should I just remove the lower hose and rad. cap and spray the hose in there or what? How do I check to see if the fan works properly, or at all? Also, how much fluid does the cooling system of a 94 3.8 LX hold? Thanks for any help or suggestions.
Monday and today I had to do a couple of things before I went to work. I drove the car about 20 minutes and everything was fine, nothing out of the normal. I’d get to where I was going, park, shut the car off, and go do what I had to do. I had the car off for maybe 5-7 minutes on Monday, and probably 2 minutes today before I got back in and started it to go on to the next place. Both times within probably a minute or so, the needle went from its normal zone, to a little over the half way mark!!! I’m wondering WTF?
Both times, as soon as I saw it was that high I stopped to check the coolant level and make sure nothing was leaking or smelled like coolant or anything. Everything looked fine both times.
I can drive with the AC on high with no problems until I shut the car off for a few minutes, then restart it. After that, having the AC on will raise the temp (according to the gauge
I already have a 180* T-stat and a CustomChip along with 2 degree cooler plugs. Thursday I will have time to work on the car. I have already bought some more coolant, some radiator flush, and some Water Wetter. I plan to flush it out real well, hose out the fins, check the hoses, check the water pump, check the elec. Fan, and put new 50/50 water/coolant mixture in as well as the water wetter at the end. Is there anything else I should check or do? I want to flush the radiator out with the flush fluid I bought and force flush it with the garden hose. To do that should I just remove the lower hose and rad. cap and spray the hose in there or what? How do I check to see if the fan works properly, or at all? Also, how much fluid does the cooling system of a 94 3.8 LX hold? Thanks for any help or suggestions.