car runs hot

yesterday on my way to home from work my air conditioning started to blow hot, so i checked the gauges and my coolent temp was 3/4 of the way up the gauge (normally just under 1/2) the water pump was changed with the timing belt (@ 60,000; 5,000 miles ago) and so was the coolent. what else could cause this problem? if it is the Thermostat, i would like to replace it with a cooler one, but do not have time to waste with ordering and shipping. the car needs to be back on the road by 4pm tomorrow. let me know your guys thoughts, and opinions on the new thermostat (if that is the probable problem) any information is greatly appreciated. :runaround:

The two things I go for right away when people start having over heating problems are the thermostat and a new radiator cap. Combine that with possible air in the system and you can solve 95% of all overheating problems.

Did you check the actual coolant temp with the DSMLink? They, the gauge and the ECU, get fed by different sensors so you never know about the condition of one sensor without looking at the other.

what temp should i go with for the new thermo? 170 deg the best option?

going to pick up a new 170 deg thermostat, and a new radiator cap in about 30mins. hope this solves my issues. any tip on changing the thermostat other then whats in the manual? never done it before, so any tips or tricks are great. seems pretty straight forward though. should be fine, and go smoothly. thanks.

Take old one out, put new one in. I don't know if yours is split like the 420a housing. Would get a new gasket too if it is. Then I always put gasket seal on the gasket when closing back up.

As far as putting in the new thermostat just pay attention to the way the old one was put in. Don't install it upside down. The side with the spring should go in first. Hopefully that will solve the issue.

Last summer I had issues with my car overheating, coolant was full with a new radiator cap, and thermostat.

I ended up installing a slim line fan and wired the radiator fan and ac fan, so they would both turn on at the same time. I installed new shrouding around the FMIC and the radiator so most of the air would be directed through the radiator. That helped alot but still didn't lower the coolant temps enough. I bought a new mishimoto radiator which holds a little bit more coolant and added a bottle of redline water wetter. After all that I don't run hot anymore and the coolant temps stay just below the middle of the gauge like it did before I installed the FMIC.

Be careful with that 170 degree thermostat. In order for the ECU to enter learn mode, all of the following conditions must be true.

Coolant temp >= 180F
Intake air temp < 133F
Baro >= 22.9 inHg
Baro <= 31.6 inHg

So if your coolant temp never reaches 180 or higher, the ECU will never enter learn mode and your FT's won't get updated. Basically the ECU will think the car is always warming up.

good call on that, so i should stick with the 180 deg. thermostat? i found the issure before taking anything appart, actually, all i did was open the hood for the first time in a while, and found the problem. my boost controller feed (charge side) line had blown off the charge pipe nipple, and wrapped itself around the radiator fan, causing it to not rotate... i can take the thermostat back and swap it out for the 180 deg one. i know once coolant temps reach 200 deg it pulls timing, and being in the Texas summer, 100 deg weather outside, the heat is hard to beat... this is the original reason for the thermostat switch. :-/

Timing is pulled at 210, IIRC.