I have a 97 with 200K miles on it that has started to overheat. The coolant reservoir is full so there is no leaking and the radiator is fairly new...<5K miles on it. It still has that factory water pump. I'm guessing this is just a bad thermostat though? The car has no heat or AC but that has been like that for a while, the over heating is new this past weekend. Actually it might not be over heating but the gauge indicates that the temp is rising. At idle the temp stays in the normal range, it only going up when driving. Any suggestions?

TIA!

 

When you drive it and the temp starts to climb, pop the hood and check the overflow bottle. If there's air bubbles coming up, you could have a blown head gasket.

 

^this
Temp only rises while driving? I was going to suggest that the radiator fans arent working, but usually that would make the temp raise at idle.

 

Yea maybe see if the fans kick on while you are sitting. They should kick on if you are at idle and temp Guage is going up above halfway. But if its heating up while driving, like stated above. I would take a good guess and say it's probably the thermostat.

 

Yeah the fans are working and they come on at idle. There are no bubbles in the overflow bottle.

 

Look through the last 2 or 3 pages as there are least 2 or 3 recent threads with overheating issues. Everything we're going to tell you is in those threads.

 

Start by checking the engine coolant level. When the car is cold, remove the radiator cap and look in. The radiator should be 100% full, no air space at all.

If the radiator is low on coolant, then fill it and start looking for leaks when it is hot.

 

At 200,000 miles the waterpu most likely needs to be replaced, as does the thermostat.

 

The coolant might be low check that first,than check for air bubbles than check for the thermostat turn the heat on and check to see, if your getting hot air, if not thermostat or coolant is low.

 

Water pump, when mine broke that's what happen it starts up normal, warms up, and stayed in range, but when you put it in drive it's gonna go up, and fast because the pump is not pushing the coolant into the engine block, you should check from leak of coolant by the rear side of the passenger tire