Running hot

[dkas]

My 1994 Cutlass with 3.4 DOHC seems to be running hot. When I got the car, some idiot had unplugs the temp sensor and the car thought it was winter all the time. My mechanic plugged it back in.

 

The car seems to be running really hot, but the guage does not seem to reflect this very often. The guage normally sits at the first white mark. I often seems like the heater is on in the car because I feel a lot of heat on the floor almost like you have the heaters on. The other day after a short drive I went to check the transmission fluid and I had to use a cloth to pull the dipstick because it was hot to touch. This does not seem normal to me.

 

Yesterday I had the car on the highway and the of course the guage did not move, however, when I stopped at the light in the city that guage jumped immediately and got very close the the red. First time I have seem the guage move really.

 

Here is what I have confirmed, there is lots of coolant the vehicle, but some idiot has put green in and it should have orange. My mechanic has confirmed it is not mixed so it is ok to use the green in it. He said it is actually better for the car as it will not eat the gaskets like the orange does. I have witnessed the fan working. There is no noise that would suggest the water pump is not working or is not functioning properly.

 

I am going to replace the thermostat tomorrow. Any other suggestions. Should I replace that temp sensor?

[94 olds vert]

The temp sensor is part of the cluster. Replacing the thermostat will likely make the temp sensor on the gauges work right. I had mine go out a while back and after I put in a new thermostat it's been working great.

 

I guess it's pretty common for the thermostat to go out on these cars.

[RobertISaar]

a 94 should have green coolant. late 95s and later got DEX-COOL.

[Schurkey]

The temp sensor is part of the cluster. Replacing the thermostat will likely make the temp sensor on the gauges work right. I had mine go out a while back and after I put in a new thermostat it's been working great.

 

I guess it's pretty common for the thermostat to go out on these cars.

How does changing a thermostat fix a defective temp sending unit, defective gauge, or defective cluster?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stop guessing. Find out how hot the engine is REALLY running at. A temporary aftermarket gauge; or even a thermometer dropped into the radiator fill will work--but pull the rad cap off BEFORE warming the engine.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Radiator-Thermometer-KDT409-Category-Supplies/dp/B0002SRDSC

 

Once you have verified that the engine is or is not overheating, you can diagnose from there.

[dkas]

I am not sure what the problem is. The guage does kind of work, but I don't think it is recording the true tempature of the engine. The car gets so hot that it will not start after it is warmed up. It is also heating up the passenger compartment like the floor heaters are on, and I was not able to touch the transmission dipstick without a cloth because it burnt me.

 

The guage did almost get to the red area once, but that is really the only movement I have ever seen from it. It was after a long drive on the highway, and then into the city and got stopped at a red light. I moved up quickly and I was back to keep the red at bay by turning on the heaters full blast.

 

I am not over mechanically inclined but know enough that extreme heat kills engines. From what I have read on the internet the fact my car will not start could be because the ignition is overheating.

 

It is my understanding that if a car is overheating you start with the thermostat. If there is something else I should check please let me know? That is why i posted here to see what else I could do to get the car running cooler and hopefully save having to rebuild an engine.