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Overheating?

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mr.burton

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I was on a busy block and was behind an suv for a good 10 minutes slowly going into 1st etc etc over and over. Then i noticed the temp gauge was right before H...oh ****. I'm sitting here at a parking lot with hood open to cool down. I made sure the fan works, all hoses good...fluid level good etc. Do these mustangs overheat like that if you're behind idling cars? My 03 GTI did that all the time.

Anyone have any clues otherwise what caused it? Car only has 19k miles.
 
Discussion starter · #2 ·
So after letting it sit for 15 minutes, i start her up drive to the next light and i see the needle starting to go towards H. Shut it down, started on green etc i did this at the next 3 lights also so it wouldnt get any hotter. The final 1/2 mile home the needle was normal and it didn't overheat. I even went WOT a couple times on my way home. Let it sit and idle for 10 minutes and the needle is normal range...what gives?

I thought it might be waterpump, but very little mileage. Maybe its the gauge itself?
 
#3 · (Edited)
Hows the coolant level? Also, leaving a car in first gear going around 15-20mph is bad. Its better to be in a lower gear (2nd-3rd) and keep the rpm's down. If you taching 3K and just leaving it there the cars gonna heat up QUICK. also, is there a hole anywhere in your coolant line? Another thing, something may be wrong with your thermostat (it not opening to help cool the car down).
 
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Discussion starter · #4 ·
Yeah i checked everything. Fluid's fine. How difficult is it to change the tstat in these cars? I just find it odd that this would be the issue with only 19k miles. Fluid is clean aswell.
 
#5 ·
it is not normal for the S197 to overheat while idling.

You can idle all day long and should be fine....and with your miles too?

run your can and make sure your electric fan is kicking in.

if your fluid is fine and everything else, I would lean torwards your Thermostat.

also you can inferred your engine to make sure your guage isn't ****ing up.
 
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#6 ·
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#7 ·
BlueDevil said:
You can change the temp for your fans if you have a SCT tuner. Low and high speed.
I'd have to say you had the motor revving too high for too long at too slow a speed behind a suv.
Click to expand...
Kind of what I am assuming..

And a tstat change isnt difficult just kinda of time consuming..
 
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#8 ·
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Discussion starter · #9 ·
#10 ·
Then its gotta be something that has to do with the lack of cooling going on.. I would definitley check your fan, then tstat.
 
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#14 ·
If your car is operating properly there should not be an overheating problem under any driving conditions. I live in Vegas and run the A/C almost year round in all sorts of driving conditions. My temp guage never moves once it gets to it's normal operating range.

Being that it seems to be an intermittent problem I would lean towards your thermostat sticking. If your fan wasn't kicking on I would think it would more of a constant issue and pretty easy to detect. Your thrmostat is just a spring that pops the valve open when it gets to a certain temp. My guess is it got stuck closed for a bit and then popped open later. It's a pretty cheap part and not that difficult to install. Then you can test the old one by putting it in a pot of water and bringing up the temp on your stove. It should pop open before the water comes to a boil. Then again it could have just stuck the one time and may be operating normally now.
 
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#15 ·
My temp gauge was recently a little to close to hot than I was comfortable with, I switched my a/c to 4 and over to heat but left it off and heat was pouring out of my vents like an oven, plus she was runnin like $**t on the freeway. sure enough my water pump was leaking, swapped it out and it runs like a champ. something to look into
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
Just an update. Today when i went to the car (sitting overnight) it was cool obviously, i rechecked the antifreeze level. It was below the "cold fill level" by about an inch. Could this have been why it overheated? I put in about 1/3 a jug of antifreeze. Drove roughly 10 miles today everything good.
 
#18 ·
mr.burton said:
Just an update. Today when i went to the car (sitting overnight) it was cool obviously, i rechecked the antifreeze level. It was below the "cold fill level" by about an inch. Could this have been why it overheated? I put in about 1/3 a jug of antifreeze. Drove roughly 10 miles today everything good.
Click to expand...
that low? shouldn't have given you the issue.

I would keep an eye on it, but i'm leaning torwards your stat.
 
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#19 ·
Burton it's possible the gauge is on it's way out. I remember people having the temperature gauges go out and have these sorts of issues. If the car doesn't 'feel' as hot than I'd bet money on that.
 
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