Q: Engine temp gauge rises quickly

asked by on November 09, 2016

I know this engine has had issues and I have been getting coolant in my oil since around 125000 mi. I didn't want to spend the money on a new head or engine so I have been running synthetic oil and changing around every 5000 mi. I added some bars leak to the radiator, that seems to have stopped the coolant to my oil. The temperature gauge always ran around between a 1/4 - 1/2 mark. After I put the bars leak in its been running more towards the 1/2 mark but it has been a hot summer here. The water pump failed and I replaced it with a aftermarket pump. It failed again as my daughter was driving down the highway and she said the engine got hot on her but I don't think she drove it very far that way. I replaced the pump with a new pump not aftermarket. Gauge would run around 1/2 - 3/4 but would get there fast. I then replaced the viscous fan seemed to help but still running high. I replaced the thermostat. It will run to 3/4 but not in red. Could it still be a bad thermostat?

My car has 193000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

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This can be caused by a number of things such as low coolant levels, a faulty thermostat, or a failing coolant fan switch. As you may know the coolant fan switch helps to maintain the proper coolant temperature by turning on and off at specific temperature thresholds. When this switch is not working properly, this can cause the fans to come on intermittently, all the time or sometimes not at all. When this happens you will notice a temperature spike and drop occasionally as the fan comes on and off. I would suggest having an expert from YourMechanic come to your home to diagnose your cooling system.

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