Help! It's hot in Los Angeles and my '96 is getting hotter. Driving around town the temp gauge is right about middle. But if I drive on the freeway going across town, it heats up to the point where the air cond cuts out. One problem that I had was that the heater coil leaked and I bypassed it completely. Suggestions?
how far does the temperature needle go up on the gauge? does the temp. light start flashing?
check and clean the cooling coils of the radiator and the A/C condenser. Might be debris restricting the flow of air through them which would mess with the cooling of the radiator esp. at higher speeds (also means higher engine temperatures).
maybe a bad thermostat that is not fully opening up. or bad water pump not moving the coolant fast enough.
OR?????
fixing the heater core might help slightly, but you should do that anyway when you have a good weekend free.
later, dave Reminder........ Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. Frieda Norris
When did you last check coolant level? Make sure that's filled up. If it's really low, you might have some air trapped in the system -> Just add every morning until all the air is out (the level will stay the same) You could also have a leak, just check underneath your car in the morning. An internal leak would most likely discolor your oil into light brown, just look at your oil to rule this out. To check the thermostat, wait until the car heats up, after it goes beyond normal operation temperature carefully feel the hose from the radiator to the engine block. If cold -> thermostat is closed.
I wouldn't worry about the fan yet, even with a broken fan the car should cool fine on the freeway.
It could be that the car just overheated once because the thermostat stayed close, a stupid animal blocked the fan for an hour or name something random that could have happened, which made the car overheat, loose some coolant because of high pressure, and things are fine after you filled enough coolant.
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