Ford - Taurus :: 1995 - Within 5 To 10 Minutes Overheat / Temp Reach Red Zone?
Apr 11, 2014
I own an old 95 Ford Taurus and have been having problems with it over heating. We have replaced head gaskets, there was a small crack got that repaired. We also replaced the radiator cap. I just replaced the whole radiator. Has new radiator hose too. The needle reaches all the way to the top line right before reaching the red zone within like 5-10 minutes of driving. It will eventually go back down but maybe just to between the o and r the gauge is vertical. I don't know what else it could be and can't afford to get another car at the moment. When i get home the reservoir is full and radiator is hot. After maybe 15-20 minutes of having the car shut off the water is sucked back in to the radiator.
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I have a 95 s10 4.3L V6 auto with 92k miles.
This all started when one day on my way to work the temp gauge got to 260 then quickly fell. It has not gotten that hot since then.
When I start the truck cold and start driving, the gauge climbs to about 215-230 within 10 minutes of driving. Once the gauge hits what ever is the magic mark for the day it quickly falls (10 seconds or less) to about 170-180. Sometimes it will "cycle" up again to 200 or so then fall back to 170-180. Once it is done moving around it stays low and will not move much as I am driving.
I bought an IR thermometer and measured the temperature at various points in the cooling system. The top of the thermostat housing is about 195 or 200 right after it climbs and drops. If I drive for a while around town then check it, the housing reads hotter, about 220 max.
There does not seem to be enough temperature drop across the radiator, I have measured about 15 degrees difference max between the hoses and on some days only 10 degrees difference.
I have replaced the fan clutch (was bad or going bad), the thermostat, and the radiator cap.
After none of this fixed it, I took it to a mechanic who did a "block test" at my request and said it was fine. He thought what it was doing, climbing and falling was normal.
If I run it without the radiator cap on I do not see much if any flow when I look down into the radiator.
Right now I am thinking of doing the water pump and flushing the radiator this weekend.
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It reached 93 here today and it has always taken too long for my AC to reach a cool temperature. I have never had the AUTO setting slow the fan down even at highway speeds. I am moving to TX in the next few months and I already know what it is like driving it down there...HOT! I could really like improving the efficiency of the AC of my Ex.
Can I use the same insulation used for home AC lines on the truck? Is there any high-temp insulation I could fun over the lines? I found a coolant shut-off valve for the heater core on 7.3 trucks, but not for the 6.0. Is there an equivalent for us with the 6.0?
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I have a 2005 Elantra GLS with a couple thousand miles over 100K. There is what appears to be an overheating issue with my car. When I'm driving it in city driving usually less than 45 MPH, the heater blows cold air. However, on the highway (greater than 50 MPH) it blows hot air and the temp needle stays in the normal range (just below the halfway point between hot and cold and more towards the cold). However, when I slow down and come to city speeds, the temp needle starts to rise and the heater blows cold air.
The needle went to the red zone this morning but as soon as it got to the red zone, it slowly came back down to the normal point (within 2-3 seconds). And @ the same time, the heater started blowing warm/hot air like it would be functioning normally. When the needle got the red zone, my car didn't stop or I didn't see smoke coming from the hood or anything like. It was almost like something (maybe thermostat) tripped and allowed the engine to cool.
After doing some research on this, the potential issues point to thermostat, coolant level, radiator crack. I haven't checked how the coolant level is doing but I will check that this weekend.
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This past Saturday afternoon I'm out driving on the highway when the temperature gauge on dash maxes-out and the overheat warning light comes on. I get off at the next exit and stop at the nearest repair shop. (Which happened to be not too far from the exit.) During these moments of driving the car is not behaving as if it were overheating. No steam/vapor coming from the engine, it's performing okay, A/C runs cold, running heater on full-blast seems to do nothing to ease the gauge and the temperature in the engine bay feels about "normal."
So, since this is a Saturday at almost 5PM most of the repair shops are closing (it's a known fact cars don't break down past 5 o'clock on Saturdays.) So they say the'll look at it on Sunday.
I get a call on Sunday and I'm told that as near as they can tell the car is not overheating, the overheat light or check-engine lights weren't coming on and the car is behaving normally. The thermostat is "gunked up" and they recommend new coolant or a coolant flush." I just opt for new coolant, forgoing the flush, as I didn't really have the funds for it, an additional $100 or so. They say there are no codes in the system.
They do it and end up having to keep the car overnight so that the... air bubbles will work out of it? (?!)
I pick it up this past Monday evening and on the drive home the temp-gauge does as it was doing when this process began. It started creeping "hotter and hotter" meanwhile the car is behaving otherwise fine. (No overheat light this time.) Get home, open the hood, no vapor, no excess heat. Nothing.
They spend quite a bit of time running it, hooking it up to a diagnostic machine, etc. While the temp-gauge is sort of "floating around" between normal and "hot" it doesn't reach an "overheat" and the diagnostic machine registers normal temperatures. This time they find a code in the system, though the check-engine light has never come on. They recommend, again, the coolant flush so I go ahead and do it (they give me a discount), and drive the car home, again the temp-gauge "floats" around the dial, never quite getting to "overheating."
I drive to work just fine Thursday (today) morning with no real trouble with the gauge. (Though, FWIW, I had to tap on the dash to get the dash-light on that side of the console to come on.) This brings us to Thursday afternoon.
I make a couple of errands and as I'm stopped at a pharmacy drive-thru the temp-gauge is "floating." Driving home on the highway it reaches "overheating", turning the light on (again, car is not behaving in an overheating manner. A/C still cold, running heat doesn't ease gauge, no vapor from engine compartment.) When I pull in my parking spot the A/C and the car starts to "stall" some and NOW the check-engine light comes on. I shut the car off and I see vapors coming from under the hood.
I open the hood and the engine is covered in the anti-freeze/coolant and the coolant reservoir is empty. The various hoses and such that are clipped on to parts of the front engine cowling are loose (the plastic screw/"snaps" came out of their holes) and pushing on the upper-radiator some and it seems awfully loose. (Like the upper mounts aren't properly seated or something.)
Call the shop ask them what they are doing to me, they say they'll have another look at it and pay for the tow to get the car back to their shop. Awaiting word on what is going on, likely sometime tomorrow.
All of this strikes me as very, very odd and all seems to pile up quickly from taking it to this shop. With a replaced thermostat and flushed coolant I have a hard time understanding how the engine could genuinely overheat. All of the hoses and such seemed fine, and running the engine for a while at the shop the other day generated no problems to the techs working on the car. Yet, they're the only ones who have messed with it. Assumptions on their part Tuesday afternoon were something to do with the water pump (replaced at 100,000 miles with timing belt. Car is now at 145,000 miles.) Or a faulty temperature sensor (or what passes for it on the car) sending false readings to the gauge.
Car is a 2000 Ford Focus ZTS with a 4-Cyl, 16V, 2.0 Liter engine. It has 145,000 miles on it, timing belt and water-pump were replaced at 100,000 miles have had regular oil-changes on (more or less) every 5,000 miles or so. I will admit to not getting coolant changes/flushes as often as one should but the car never really had an overheating issues or problems starting in the winter.
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I have a 98 Buick Century, with about 250k miles on it. Recently when I first start the car and drive a few miles the temperature gauge keeps rising until it is in the red zone and a warning light comes on. When I pull of to the side of the road after a bit it begins to slowly drop and I can begin to drive again. The gauge will then normally stay a bit above halfway for the remainder of the trip, the gauge has sometimes done a bit of jumping around between 3/4 and half sometimes though. The only work that I have had done on it recently is to have some work done on the ac system.
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Just had a new timing belt put in with water pump. Drove it home and the temp gauge flew up to red zone. Took it back they said air pocket in system. Bled the system. Drove home and same thing happened. Nothing changed. Temp gauge elevates past normal and into red zone when I idle or drive slow without air conditioning on. The weird thing if the air conditioning is on the gauge stays at normal longer. What is the issue? Is it a bad water pump or thermostat? Or something else.
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Having issues with there Grand AM over heating? I've got a 99 Grand AM SE , & it's over heating. I cannot drive it more then 5 minutes without it starting to over heat. I'm getting no where fast with this vehicle.
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I have a 2002 Nissan Frontier with a non supercharged 3.3L v6. The truck is a crew cab, long bed and 4x4. I have had this truck since I bought it used in 2004 with 26k miles. The truck now has 196k miles and I have done a little modifying to make it a bit more off road capable.
I have done all the work to the truck myself, until last fall when I finally broke down and took it to a dealer, who was not able to find my problem, but I will get to that...First of all, the truck has steel bumpers, a winch, a tool box, onboard air system and large tires, all of which make the little 3.3L work hard. However, for three years since I quit making modifications, the truck ran perfectly cool and the temp needle never once went above the normal operating position, even through thick sand at the beach, mountain trails and towing heavy trailers, until last summer.
Late last summer, on 90+ degree days, I noticed the temp needle would start riding above normal when I had the AC on. It didnt matter if I was on the highway, the city streets or idling in the driveway. When I turned off the AC the needle went back to normal. This started happening occasionally at first (once every 2 weeks) then towards fall it started happening more frequently, almost every 90 degree day. Soon after I noticed the problem, it would happen even with the AC off, but not get quite so hot.
After a few weeks of this, I started chasing the problem. I replaced the radiator cap, the thermostat (tested the old one and tested the new one before installing,) I took the radiator to a rad shop and had it boiled and flow tested, I replaced both coolant temp sensors, and then finally the water pump. When none of those repairs made a difference I built new radiator fan shrouds and that made no difference. At this point I was starting to get discouraged so I borrowed a scan tool from a friend and drove around for a few weeks with it plugged in. I was reading live temperature readings of the coolant and verified that the gauge was working correctly.
The truck ran about 200 degrees with the AC off most of the time, then, when I turned the AC on, no matter if I was sitting in park or driving on the highway, the temp would steadily climb until it got to 222 degrees and I would shut off the truck, at that point the needle was near the danger zone and according to several nissan dealership, the highest normal operating temp is 204, but it should stay around 195. At 205 degrees, the needle would start to move above the normal position, so the gauge seems to be fine. As summer turned into fall, the truck started running cooler as the days began to drop into the 70's. I finally got fed up with chasing my tail and took the truck to a dealer with my main concern being a blown head gasket or cracked head.
The dealership inspected the head and tested the coolant for hydrocarbons and said that the head and gasket are not the issue. They advised that the only other thing it could be is my fan clutch. After that dealership visit, the days were cool so I drove the truck all winter without changing the fan clutch. Then, 2 weeks ago, on a 70 degree day, I hooked up my truck to an empty trailer (maybe 1000lbs) and towed it 15 miles. When towing up hill with the AC on, the temp needle started moving. I immediately went to napa and replaced my fan clutch. Confident that was the issue, I drove the truck to the mountains for a camping trip last weekend. While climbing the hills at 40mph and about 2500 rpm, the temp needle climbed to the near danger zone.
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Having an intermittent problem on my 2002 Chrysler Sebring LX (about 132,000 miles). Often I can drive around and everything is okay. However, it seems like every 11 days or so, the temperature gauge starts to climb above the halfway mark and toward the danger zone. Only once has it gotten all the way up to the red danger zone and illuminated the warning light, and that was the very first time. It was fortunate that this happened the exact moment I reached home and parked in my driveway.
When the temperature gauge starts to climb above the halfway mark, I've tried to turn on the heater to cool it down, but this doesn't work. The heater just blows cold air. So far I have been taking the following steps:
1) Stop driving and park the car for 10 minutes or more.
2) Fill the coolant tank under the hood with coolant. I'm putting in about half a gallon each time.
3) Continue driving.
After this process, the heater is again blowing warm air and the temperature gauge is staying at a safe level. It seems to persist for about 11 - 14 days then the cycle starts all over.
It happened last night following a drive of about 5 miles home from the gym. Since I had no more driving to do that day, I just parked it overnight to see if this was a fluke and if it would be necessary to add more coolant.
This morning I drove the same 5 miles. Temperature gauge stayed pretty low for about half the trip, but then rapidly shot up. I got to the gym before it reached the danger zone (it was probably about 3/4 of the way up). I parked for a little over an hour while I went inside to exercise. Then I again added half a gallon of coolant and drove home without problems.
The last time I had overheating issues, the coolant rapidly spilled out of the bottom and the overheating was not preventable. I got the radiator replaced. This was in October 2013. I've also tried some of that stop leak fluid. It didn't work, but I'm not so sure I used it correctly. I didn't flush the tank and I think I might have poured it in on a normal driving day (coolant pretty full).
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My 1991 Nissan 240SX (only 85K miles!) has an intermittent overheating problem that began last November. Needle usually right in middle, but occasionally would quickly rise to danger zone. In Nov., I got new radiator and pump, as well as all new spark plugs. Was OK for about 3 months, then started overheating occasionally. In shop a day and a half while they tried to find the cause. Gave me a new thermostat. Then test showed there was a leak in head gasket. Instead of expensive repairs, I put 8-oz bottle of K-Seal in cooling system. Reviews all over the web gave me confidence it would seal all leaks. But within 5 minutes, it overheated. Tried again later, same result.
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I've got a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8T Wolfsburg Edition.
Recently the temp gauge sits at 260* as soon as the car starts, but it's not actually overheating. Car runs/drives fine and will do so for many, many miles. Even in stop and go traffic. Was told the thermostat was replaced, but that didn't fix the issue although it doesn't sound like a thermostat issue since the car isn't actually overheating. Coolant is topped off as well.
I am thinking it's a bad sensor. Where is it located on this car?
Car is a friends and she said she took it to a shop to have the coolant checked and they were also the ones who did the thermostat.
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I have a 20th GTI and the Temp light is flashing. The car does not overheat, and runs normally. The temp gauge acts normally.
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2007 Camry V6: how miles to warm up to reach normal temp?
When i start cold (30 F ) it take at least 5 miles (in town) to reach the ''ALMOST'' 9 O CLOCK mark on the temp gauge or 185 F on my ULTRAGAUGE connect to the OBDII connector.
At 20F outside temp or less : i plug the block heater (cartridge type in the block (not coolant) )
Then when i start the car the TEMP on Ultragauge is 60F after 2 hours on 110 Volts.
Then go to city..........and take the same 5 miles to reach 185F. So same time.
My Question: is it NORMAL that it take at least 5 miles to warm up at 185F. Is my thermostat OK because it is a big (long) job to replace myself and it is cold outside .
Q.: 2 : When i stop the car about 25 minutes (20F outside temp)) the temp is down down below the first white mark on car gauge....... normal or not ?: (if not :maybe the radiator pressure cap?) Never had a japanese car.......my caddy was at normal temp before 5 miles...
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I have less than 7k miles on my new Silverado W/T. I haven't hauled anything heavy in it since I bought it, and have been using it just back and forth to work. Pretty light duty. I was parked the other night in a parking lot idling and listening to the radio when I noticed the transmission temp jumped up to 189 degrees! I also noticed the water gauge was a bit past it's mid-range temp. I immediately cranked up the heater core to try to cool things down and it worked for the main radiator water temp..but the tranny sender quickly went to 200 degrees so I shut the whole mess down.
Just before I did that, the transmission idiot light popped on. I left it there for several hours in 20 degree weather and came back to start the truck and head home..the tranny on start-up was still @ 70 degrees. I got up on the hiway and things came down to about 100 degrees at a legal speed on the hiway. Engine water temp was normal too. Drove for about 45 minutes that way. I tried sitting in my driveway a day or so later in park, and the tranny temp went from 120 degrees to 145 degrees in 35 degree weather fairly quickly.
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My engine temp indicator shows overheat to the red line, however when I stop the car I can put my hand on the radiator cap and leave it there. No signs of any leaks anywhere. The top radiator hose on the drivers side is hot. Engine runs fine. Oil on dipstick clean. I can't find anything to back up my temp indication. What else I can look for? 1987 chev caprice classic brougm ls 5.o liter.
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We will start with the history. I recently purchased this car knowing of a long list of issues which have been worked out for the most part. The related piece would be random misfires which I believed were based on a faulty Ignition Coil (common on this 420a [2.0 NA] motor.) I have replace the coil but the issue persists.
Now what is happening is after about 20-30 minutes (or miles) of driving the fuel pump will overheat and the car will stall. I can get it to turn back over most of the time but it will stall out if attempting to drive. I have to leave it sitting for about 15 minutes to be able to move it.
What codes am I getting from the CEL? Nothing. (No CEL)What have I tried so far? - Fuel pump has been replaced- Fuel filter has been replaced- Fuel lines have been verified (no noticeable leaks, unwanted bends, pinches or breaks)(I also verified that this is not an issue with the PCV valve or EGR [electric in this car] valve)
I know... I thought relay or wiring also - but all lines and the relay are cool to the touch so they are not overheating. 1998 Eclipse GS....
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Is it normal that the temperature gauge reach half the temp scale all the time ? Even though I live in a tropical island were outside temp is mostly above the 85 mark I find it a bit weird for the temp to reach that point.
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I have a 1997 Ford Taurus LX v6 DOHC. The car has almost 150000 miles. After driving the car for about 30 - 45 mins, I turn it off. About 20 mins later, I go to turn on the car and it has trouble starting and stay running. I turn the key to start it and it begins to sputter and then cuts off. When this happens, the RPM goes up and down and never gets to 700 - 800 RPM. After waiting for about 10 mins, the car finally starts but I have to push on the gas pedal to get it started and kept running. Once started, it runs fine. The car has enough gas, the fuel pump kicks on, and the oil level is full.
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I'll be traveling this summer and will leave my 1995 Ford Taurus in my home state. Aside from disconnecting the battery, is there anything I can/should do before I leave so that the car will be drive able when I get back? (I did this a few summers ago and did nothing to prepare; when I got back, the car did start, but a few days later it died and I had burned out the alternator. Would like to avoid doing that again!
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My 1995 Taurus SE check engine comes on shortly after starting, cuts out for two seconds on rapid acceleration, and the check engine lights goes off for ten seconds. I replaced the distributor cap and rotor, the spark plugs, and the air filter. I have tried Techron injector cleaner. It is better but the check engine light is still on and it cuts out as before.
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