My car has some overheating problems. BlackBeast'88 has been giving me some good ideas, but I wanted to see if anyone here has had this problem. My car never seems to overheat when I am cruising around town or going down the interstate. But when I get off of the interstate (after traveling for a while at about 80 mph), right when I stop and turn off of the exit my problems begin. Sometimes, I can keep driving and it will stay hot and then when I come back to a stop, it will cool down to normal??? So it sounds like it is not air related. I don't think it is my guage since sometimes it will take a while but it will gradually drop down after I turn it off and let it cool. My radiator is about a year and a half old. Water pump about a year old. Tried 2 different thermostats this month along with a new radiator cap.

I am leaning towards a collapsing lower radiator hose. I didn't use a hose with an internal support spring. The only other thing is maybe there is trash in there and I need it backflushed(?). I guess this is something a shop will have to do. Any other ideas are appreciated.

Thanks.
Jonathan

 

ttt

 

yeah the overheating on the highway could be caused by the lower hose collapsing or missing some if not all of the air dam.

 

if you are gonna drain the collant to backflush, while its empty, replase the sending unit for the guage. After so many years it takes its toll on stuff like that.

 

Like I said before, it doesn't overheat when I am on the highway, only when I get off of the highway, come to a stop, and start going again.
If the gauge was acting up, it doesn't seem like it would gradually go down while I let it cool...

I bought a back-flush kit and some of that 10 minute cleaner. I will see if that helps.

Any other ideas are appreciated.

 

yeah i just cant really think of anything else that would cause a more than hot condition other than the fan(s) not coming on.

 

Well, for anyone interested, I think I fixed my car. I drove it about 100 miles tonight and it never went over 180*.

I got one of those cheap backflush kits and, while I was at it, replaced my bottom radiator hose which was very flimsy and WAS collapsing under throttle. I went to every autoparts place I could find, but none of them had a hose with a spring inside it. The one they had at Autozone was twice as strong as the ones at Pepboys, Advanced, and NAPA. So, I bought that one and installed it after I flushed the system. I hope I won't regret using Autozone, I rarely have success with them....

Anyhow, thanks for the ideas.

Jonathan

 

NEVERMIND!!!!! My car didn't overheat for a week, so I thougt it was fixed it. Should have known better. It is now doing the exact same as it did before............

Anyone want to buy a car???????????

 

When the engine starts to get hot, check to see if the fans are running. If not, the Fan Relay may be working intermittently and should be replaced. It's on the driver side firewall behind a metal bracket. There are two of them, one is the fuel pump relay and the other one on the left as you're standing in front of the vehicle is for the fans.