My coolant temperature is all over the place. I recently bleed the system. The temperature is fluxuating all over place. It will rise to right below the red and then drop all of a sudden to below 3 o'clock. Then stay at 3 or below then up to below the red and then back down. Any thoughts?
Coolant Temperature
- Thread starter kys911t
- Start date
Check the wire from the sender, it runs by the battery tray and tends to crack with age and can cause these symptoms.
Check your
Sender with a meter to make sure it's in range. Here's VDO's troubleshooting guide......http://www.egauges.com/pdf/vdo/0-515-012-178.pdf
Sender with a meter to make sure it's in range. Here's VDO's troubleshooting guide......http://www.egauges.com/pdf/vdo/0-515-012-178.pdf
my thoughts are failing water pump (or loose belt), faulty thermostat, or air bubble (bleed the system).
Remove the small hose from the radiator to the expansion tank at the expansion tank.
Run the engine and verify you have a steady stream of water coming out of the hose.
Run the engine and verify you have a steady stream of water coming out of the hose.
echappe
Well-Known Member
be very careful here... this is territory where heads get warped
In addition to aforementioned- cracks in head or block can cause exhaust gasses to be forced into cooling system causing erratic spikes. Hope it's not this.
possible reasons
Recent work done with the cooling system or the engine?
The bleeding in first place was due to?
Recent work done with the cooling system or the engine?
The bleeding in first place was due to?
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I bleed the the system because the temperature was up and down thinking that was the reason for the fluxuation. The previous fluxuation was however much more gradual and not so eratic and it would always come tend to median at the middle and never reached the red (just below)
Honolulu
Well-Known Member
I don't like the sound of this.
If you coolant system is bled, and full, there should be no bubbles or intermittent overflows from the coolant reservoir. If there are, you should have a look at your plugs. A very clean plug shows you which cylinder is ingesting water, from a bad head gasket or worse.
However, I'm something of an alarmist in these things. Proper procedure for bleeding (which some of us have to do several times to get it right) is to have the front of the car higher than the rear. It helps get the bubbles out, as long as they aren't exhaust gas from a bad gasket.
Try the lesser things first: belt and tstat.
If you coolant system is bled, and full, there should be no bubbles or intermittent overflows from the coolant reservoir. If there are, you should have a look at your plugs. A very clean plug shows you which cylinder is ingesting water, from a bad head gasket or worse.
However, I'm something of an alarmist in these things. Proper procedure for bleeding (which some of us have to do several times to get it right) is to have the front of the car higher than the rear. It helps get the bubbles out, as long as they aren't exhaust gas from a bad gasket.
Try the lesser things first: belt and tstat.
Finally after a few months of off and on experimenting and reviewing all the advice provided in these forums, I think we have things solved. Bleeding seemed to do the trick. But not after persistent back and forth work. Many of the suggestions helped. I now have a gauge that reads slightly past 3 oclock for most of the time. A few of the things that I think attributed to getting the bleeding to work. Make sure the heater is is on. It takes several bleeds. Always keep the reservuior filled. Removing the line from the radiator to the reservuior and placing another tube on the reservuior and blowing into it while keeping the other line elevated really helped. Thanks all. Now time to attend my next issue....transmission leak.