Thermostat? 97 2.4

In winter the following scenario happened a couple times to me. I would drive to a location, and then idle for awhile (once was while i was delivering newspapers courier style early in the morning, the second was an early morning helping a buddy try and get his car unstuck). After awhile of idling, the temp would start shooting up, and not cool. I would shut off the engine, leave it for a half hour or so, and then start up again, and all would be fine, so long as i wasn't sitting unmoved with the engine running.

Yesterday I was running my A/C all aft while doing about an hour or so worth of city driving. I noticed suddenly that my temp gauge was high again, not into the yellow or red, but creeping up there. i couldn't really pull over, so i rolled down my window, cut the a/c, went to defrost at max heat and pinned the fan. i got going and my temp dropped down to normal.

the most likely problem i can see here is the possibility of my thermostat going, or something thermostat related. anyone?

*bump, anyone?

When the temperature goes up high do you notice (hear) the cooling fan at the rad coming on? If it is not, then that will be your problem. Sounds to me like the thermostat is fine if the car is cooling down with the defrost running at max heat. My first car did exactly what you are describing. I went throught the same process of changing thermostat & running the defrost on max heat to cool down (mine was happening in the middle of summer), with no results, and turns out that the connector at my cooling fan was corroded and the fan was not coming on. Repaired the connector and all was fine. Hope this helps.

Cheers :cheers:

precisely the sort of tip i was looking for, i'll check that out.

Sup, Well yesterday I was driving and noticed the temp going up slightly past the 195* mark to the next line. So when I got home I let the engine cool checked the coolant level and its FULL. So I started the car up and turned my fan switch ON (allways running), and let it idle for about 5 min and man the temp was getting high almost to the red mark! So I shut it off immediatly! Then I went to the upper radiator hose and gave it a pinch its cool and soft. I hear if you pinch the upper hose and its cool and there is no presure your themostat might be shut closed.... I was going to replace it today but I want to be sure thats my problem... I cant see anything else causing this. Fan runs all the time! Coolant is full full. Thanks Danny.

Sup, Well yesterday I was driving and noticed the temp going up slightly past the 195* mark to the next line. So when I got home I let the engine cool checked the coolant level and its FULL. So I started the car up and turned my fan switch ON (allways running), and let it idle for about 5 min and man the temp was getting high almost to the red mark! So I shut it off immediatly! Then I went to the upper radiator hose and gave it a pinch its cool and soft. I hear if you pinch the upper hose and its cool and there is no presure your themostat might be shut closed.... I was going to replace it today but I want to be sure thats my problem... I cant see anything else causing this. Fan runs all the time! Coolant is full full. Thanks Danny..