Sooooo, the TurdBird is being ... well, a turd, lately. Ever since I bought the thing, it's had a tendency to run a little warm for my liking, especially any time I run the A/C (which I just charged and is holding up just great). After swapping in a 180* T-stat (drilled 1/8" hole to bleed out air pockets) and fabricating an air dam for it, both which helped significantly, now it has a tendency to run either wayyyyy cool or wayyyyy hot - usually the former, for the first 10 minutes, and the latter for the rest of the time.
Today, I darn near overheated the sucker in the same traffic conditions, same temps that I've been driving in for the past few weeks. Ambient temps were 110+*, smooth-flowing traffic (around 45 MPH consistent), and the A/C rockin' = 4/5 of the way towards the evil "H" on the right of the gauge. I get it out on the Loop 202 and cruise up to 70 MPH, roll down the windows, crank the heat full blast (sort of using the heater core as an auxillary cooler), and the temp drops back down to the middle where it should be, although still a hair warmer than where it should be. I get off the 202 and onto Roosevelt about 15 minutes later, and within three blocks (WITHOUT the A/C going) the temp shoots back up to where it was, wayyyyy too close to overheating for my comfort.
Here's what's weird. The fan's blowing just fine. There isn't a leak anywhere to be found anywhere at all (not even a hint of coolant smell anywhere underhood), no white smoke, no coolant in the oil or vice-versa, and the coolant level is staying steady. WTF? As hot as the temp gauge was reading, I expected to see/hear the thing boiling over, but there was no such craziness going on underhood. No telltale signs of leakage under the water pump or anywhere else on the front/side/top/back of the motor, the coolant level has remained steadfast for the past couple weeks (and so has the oil), and gas mileage has been pretty good at 25 MPG average mostly highway with the A/C running.
Only theories I have so far:
- Radiator is plugged up with sediment and not working efficiently enough at low speeds;
- Defective thermostat;
- The fan might be a designed to run at two speeds, and it's only running at the lower speed due to a faulty relay or coolant temp switch (although it does certainly seem to be putting out plenty of air);
- Temperature sending unit is totally exaggerating how cool or hot it is at any given time (although it does seem to give consistent readings as per driving conditions, strangely).
Any other suggestions/ideas? I was already considering ditching this car beforehand, but if I can't solve this little riddle, I'm just gonna sell the thing for a different DD and let it become someone else's headache pretty soon...
Today, I darn near overheated the sucker in the same traffic conditions, same temps that I've been driving in for the past few weeks. Ambient temps were 110+*, smooth-flowing traffic (around 45 MPH consistent), and the A/C rockin' = 4/5 of the way towards the evil "H" on the right of the gauge. I get it out on the Loop 202 and cruise up to 70 MPH, roll down the windows, crank the heat full blast (sort of using the heater core as an auxillary cooler), and the temp drops back down to the middle where it should be, although still a hair warmer than where it should be. I get off the 202 and onto Roosevelt about 15 minutes later, and within three blocks (WITHOUT the A/C going) the temp shoots back up to where it was, wayyyyy too close to overheating for my comfort.
Here's what's weird. The fan's blowing just fine. There isn't a leak anywhere to be found anywhere at all (not even a hint of coolant smell anywhere underhood), no white smoke, no coolant in the oil or vice-versa, and the coolant level is staying steady. WTF? As hot as the temp gauge was reading, I expected to see/hear the thing boiling over, but there was no such craziness going on underhood. No telltale signs of leakage under the water pump or anywhere else on the front/side/top/back of the motor, the coolant level has remained steadfast for the past couple weeks (and so has the oil), and gas mileage has been pretty good at 25 MPG average mostly highway with the A/C running.
Only theories I have so far:
- Radiator is plugged up with sediment and not working efficiently enough at low speeds;
- Defective thermostat;
- The fan might be a designed to run at two speeds, and it's only running at the lower speed due to a faulty relay or coolant temp switch (although it does certainly seem to be putting out plenty of air);
- Temperature sending unit is totally exaggerating how cool or hot it is at any given time (although it does seem to give consistent readings as per driving conditions, strangely).
Any other suggestions/ideas? I was already considering ditching this car beforehand, but if I can't solve this little riddle, I'm just gonna sell the thing for a different DD and let it become someone else's headache pretty soon...