I am having an overheating problem. I live in Phoenix over the summer and go to school in Tucson. So, I drive the max home sometimes on weekends and holidays. However I rarely make it all the way home without having to stop at least once or twice to let her cool down.

Here's the Breakdown:
On short trips overheating is not a problem ~ 20-40 mile trips
Once I get on the Interstate going about 80mph the temp gauge slowly rises, after about 15 miles.
So I pull of on some nearby exit and wait for about 3-5 minutes, after which the car cools down and I am back on the road for another 10-15 miles.
Heat doesn't work
AC just went out on the last trip to Phoenix.
Thermostat just replaced no more then a year ago.
Radiator is about 6 years old.
Water pump is 6 years old.
Always lived in Arizona- hot, dry, dusty climate.

My thoughts:
Radiator:
I carefully felt around the radiator near the bottom tubes to see if there was any temp difference.
The driver side pipe felt somewhat cooler then the hot passenger’s side pipe.
I think that there might be some sediment blocking the flow on the right side of the radiator causing the overheating.
AC:
There might be a leak in the system, which could be disallowing the AC pump clutch to engage.
Heater:
I have no idea, except that the heater core sucks *** on 3rd gens.

My questions:
Could all of these problems be related?
What are other possible causes for the strange overheating situation?
What can I do to fix the AC, Heat, and overheating?
What are your thoughts?

My concern:
I won’t be able to make it home for the summer after school gets out, because my car will overheat and ultimately become "totaled".

PS. Sorry for the long post.

 

sounds like you need a new radiator.
change that...flush the system then report back.

if freon is low the compressor won't kick on.

when your AC was working...did the fans go on when you turn the AC on?

 

I was just about to edit that. Yes they do.
The AC pump, charger, and piping was replaced about a year ago.

 

When you replaced the t-stat did you follow the TSB for proper "Bleeding" technique ??? It's very important to do so or your car will have the above symptoms too.......


Troy.

 

Hmmm. Good question, I remember following the Haynes guide, if they use a similar technique I am positive that I followed it.

 

The haynes manual is good for fire starter material..... You may want to pick up a Factory Manual on your car, if you search you can find the electronic version of the manual and use that. But yes you do need to follow the TSB to fix that problem, Unfortunately our cars are harder to bleed than a volkswagon vanagon, If you 've owned one or had a friend that did you would know how hard they are to bleed out.

Just get the ESM and follow that first, especially since you did it with a haynes manual.

Troy.

 

Yeah, I already have a FSM, but didn't at the time. I think im gonna try the radiator this weekend and then get report back.

 

air can get trapped in the heater core which will kill your heat so i agree you should bleed it. does the temperture go all the way up on the gauge? if it is going slowly you may want to make sure your egr and egr solenoid are working. the recirculating gases can lower the engines temp. i found this out after having this problem with my work van. there was a shorted wire between the ecu and the solenoid. just another thing to check, good luck

 

Replaced the radiator. Car runs great now! Over heating is not a problem anymore.

Now, does anyone have any suggestions for the ac?

 

take the A/C in to have it inspected.
some places do a free VISUAL inspection which should spot most leaks.
if it doesn't spot the leak then its time for a sawzall

 

Finally got the AC working! The pressure line that runs along the fire wall got worn down over time and a small hole opened up. I guess they redesigned the tube in the 90's and divided it into 2 pieces, while I was still running the huge one piece tube. So I finally got both pieces, replaced the old one, and then had the car charged up with some freeze 12. Now the AC works great! Just as cold as R134a, but doesn't seem as cold as R12. So now I can drive in AZ's record heat this weekend without dying of heatstroke. :