Need help with cooling/overheating problem:
Hello guys. The problem I have has been present since December but rarely occurred. Now that the weather is becoming hotter (95+) the problem is becoming much more frequent. After I've been driving for awhile, (say 20 minutes- car is warmed up to correct position) and I have to stop (traffic jam, waiting for someone in front of there house, drive-thru's) the needle will slowly start to creep towards the 3/4 mark. It's never reached the 3/4 mark, but the needle will return to its correct position if I turn on the heat or start driving again. I thought it would have been the fan clutch, so I replaced the fan clutch, shroud, thermostat, thermostat housing, upper and lower radiator hoses, and a complete coolant flush. Unfortunetly, this didn't solve the problem. I know you're all going to say water pump, but I had that replaced back in December of '05 because it was leaking all over the place. 2 weeks after it was replaced was the first time the slight overheat occurred. I thought maybe the water pump was installed incorrectly but wouldn't that just cause the car to overheat all the time, no matter what?? What can be messed up when installing the water pump that causes this problem?? The next issue I addressed was the auxilary fan. I jumped the connector and both high and low speeds came on. The fan also comes on when the air conditioning is turned on. However, I have noticed that the auxilary fan DOES NOT come on even when the needle start to creep past the half way mark. Could the sensor that tells the aux. fan to come on be bad, causing the slight overheat?? Scott H also proposed that the radiator can be covered with debris such as pine needles, dirt, etc, but I'm not so sure that's what's causing the problem. The last issue I thought about was a clogged hose somewhere, but wouldn't that cause the car to overheat every time?? I'm out of ideas here, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Andrew
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