JoseDinero

Water temp gauge has been goin crazy for over 2 months. Car will go for weeks without any indication of trouble and then suddenly the gauge says it's overheating. I stop and raise the hood and the temp gauge goes down quickly. Sometimes as I'm driving it will bounce around between a little above the normal temp line all the way to the red line of overheating. It will stay there awhile and then start to go down, then up...then down. I've pulled over when it was pegged in the red zone, opened the hood and the engine is not hot beyond normal limits. No steam, no oil burning, nothing! I have had it into my good mechanic shop twice, they have checked for leaks, flushed it.. done all their checks and they have found nothing.

Air in system? Bad sensor? What? what? WHAT?!

tech2

what year and engine?

JoseDinero

2001 and the 2.2

tech2

you seem confident the car is not running hot or overheating. I'm assuming the shop checked the coolant level and its not low, the cap is sealing the system, the rad is not blocked and the fans are working.
the cluster stepper motors are known for going bad but they usually wrap around rather than function erratically. I would put a scanner on it when its acting up and see if the gauge matches the reading of the ect on the scan tool. if it does the cluster is ok and you may have a wiring or sensor issue.


When you go to a shop its best for you to demonstrate the concern. It can be hard for a tech to duplicate what you have described. Go for a test drive and show them.

sledge.impy

Turn on your interior heater with the man motor on high. See if that helps cool the motor. As T2 mentioned, I'd also double check radiator fan not working. Turn on AC should engage it. I wouldn't touch it or try to poke it to get it to move. Probably chew your hand off if it does. Maybe only in the morning when the car hasn't been run or turned on I'd check to see if it moves freely...

Have a cooling system pressure test to eliminate leaks.