Hey, I am really not too good with cars, but I have a few questions. My car was overheating, so I flushed and filled the cooling system with new antifreeze and I was still getting the same problem, I put in a new thermostat(180, the one in there was 195) and now its seems better. It gets up to the 220 mark sometimes one line over that(the guage confuses me 100-220 then 220-260, the lines don't seem right but whatever) then if it idles in park it goes up more like 3-4 lines past the 220 mark. I don't know what the problem is or if this is normal, since I put in a 180 thermostat assuming everything was working fine, the guage should read defintely read below the 220 line right?

Sorry for the confusing post, but I am an idiot and can't word things good.

 

Assuming the system's operating properly and efficiently, turn it on, let it sit and when the fan kicks on it should begin to cool down pretty quickly. If the fan kicks on and a minute later the temp hasn't noticeably been reduced then you have some cooling problem.

I measured mine with an independent probe and found that the first tick mark was 120*, the second was 180*, straight up was 220* and I never let it get hot enough to check the rest of the scale. I do believe the last mark on the right is 260*.

 

is your fan working at all? if not, you're gonna reach the higher temps... or if you have that infamous stock fan switch still - doesn't come on til like 237, or so... so you're still gonna get up there, but eventually it'll kick on. i'd check the system and make sure the fan is working first, rather than using a hot engine as the test bench...

 

Okay, I guess this might of been a bad idea but, I let the guage read up until the middle mark between 220 and 260 and then it went down pretty fast and settled at like 1 little mark above 220 while I was driving, could this be a bad thermostat? Or could the factory guage be WAY off? I just put in the 180 degree thermostat by the way, possible I got a defective one? Shouldn't the thermostat open up way earlier then when it is?


Also I plan on installing a new fan switch and to make the fans come on sooner and adding water wetter to the antifreeze. I hope this will bring it below 220, though who knows.



Also, I'd like to say, I really apperciate everyones help too, thank you so much. This site is awesome, I waste about 2 hours a day just reading posts, some of which are very informative, and others are absolutely hilarious.

 

Those numbers are exactly what my car was doing when I was missing the air dam. 220* all day long while driving, but 240* in traffic with the fans running. The cold front here is making it hard for me to get above 190* this week...

 

I have an air damn, its in good shape too, so I ruled that out, thanks alot anyways, I am gonna see what happens this weekend with the new fan switch, I took the thermo out and it opened up when I put it in boiling water, so it might not be defective, after reading some more, I might try drilling some holes in it, since that thing seems to take awhile to open up...

I think I might have it figured out, after reading somemore, I realize the stock settings on the car are set to run kinda hot, so I think I just need to change some things(like the fan switch) and see how that goes, if it doesn't work then I'll probably be back on here with more questions lol.

 

Just for reference, I used a 180* thermostat and drilled four 1/8" holes in it. I now run ~170* down the highway or anytime the fan is on.