Temporary Overheat?

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Stevemata

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I had only been driving for about five minutes when the temperature gauge climbed up to the red line and what sounded like an auxiliary engine coolant system came online then the dash alert system informed me of a check engine temperature status.

I was almost home so I continued home, about two minutes later the temperature gauge indicator started falling and as I pulled into my drive way the warnings and auxiliary engine coolest system turned off and the temperature gauge indicator dropped to normal.

Engine coolant level is normal.

Any ideas?
 
Either sticky t-stat or air bubble in the coolant system.
 
Original T Stat stuck closed and the newer one's are made to fail open.
 
Mine is a 2004 V8

After letting it cool off I took it for a drive around the block and it went into alternating cylinder overheat failsafe mode.

I checked the coolant level and it was way down at the bottom.

I refilled the coolant and it is idling normal and doesn't appear to be leaking anything. Temperature is normal.

Any ideas?
 
SteveManta, I have been having a very similar problem with overheating and coolant. I drive in NY city and the stop and go driving causes the overheats, when i'm driving on the highway or where there is minimal stopping the problem has never happened. Recently a couple of times the temp needle went all the way to the top and then when I parked the coolant all flooded out at once. I refilled the coolant to the top of the bottle (I was probablly supposed to bleed it and stuff but I just poured it in) and then when I check it after driving the coolant level is all the way down to the low marker. Basically I think that I am going to try and chenge the thermostat, check the radiator that its not being blocked with leaves and things, maybe get a new coolant reservoir if its not too expensive, and probablly try to install new coolant inlet and outlet tubes. My car has 100k on it and the parts are all expensive so this sucks, but i'm hoping that that will solve the problem. Let me know how it turns out.
 
Also had an overheat earlier this year. Turned out to be a cracked coolant reserve tank.
 
I went to hose down some antifreeze I spilled on the driveway and I noticed a little rubber gasket just large enough to slide around a pencil where my car is normally parked. Does anyone know if this is in fact from my car and where it might have come from?
 
Three thing it could be
1 rad cap bad
2 air in line
3 leaking dega bottle, which would cause air in coolant line.
 
Ditto what pektel said about air in the cooling system... This can cause some wierd temperature fluctuations and have been bit by this happening a number of times in various vehicles. Even if it is not the problem, makes sense to me to rule it out before jumping to mechanical fixes that cost more $$$.

It takes me about 15 minutes to purge the air out of the cooling system. Start with a cold engine and remove the radiator cap. Do all of these steps with the radiator cap off. Start the engine, turn the heater on high, top up the coolant level in the radiator and let the engine idle up to operating temperature. Zoom the RPMs a few time after it is hot and if there is air anywhere, you will see the radiator fluid level drop. Repeat topping up the radiator and zooming the RPMs until the level no longer changes. Next, top up the radiator to where there's a little spillage when you screw on the radiator cap then top up the coolant reservoir to the Max level mark.

Check the coolant reservoir a few times over the next few days. There could still be a little residual air that will burp out, which will draw the reservoir level down. Heck, I've even had some air burps large enough to blow some coolant out of the reservoir.
 
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