1994 caravan

evening all today when i started my caravan the temp gauge went right to hot and thats where it stood all the way home which is about 3 miles the car did not smoke or over heated. I check the raditor and it was full and the cap was not hot. after dinner whic was about 1 hr i started the caravan it was fine for about 2 minutes then it went to hot again but no smoke or over heating can anone give me some advice what might be causing this problem.

Thanks Michael:banghead:

If you drove your van over 3 miles with the temperature gauge pegged on H and afterward the radiator was cool to the touch, it can only mean one thing:

Your thermostat is stuck SHUT and water is not circulating out of the engine.

While you were driving your van, your engine got very HOT but the radiator stayed nice and cool. Not a good situation. Hopefully you didn't do an permanent damage to the engine. Do not drive it again until after you change the thermostat.

Now, you did not specify what engine and how many miles. If your van continues to heat like this after you replace your thermostat, you my have a head gasket starting to leak, allowing exhaust gases into the cooling system and creating an air bubble behind the thermostat when cold. This will delay or even prevent the thermostat from opening when it should. This gasket situation is more common in the four cylinder engine with over 100,000 miles. This is what happened to the 2.5L four cylinder in my Shadow.

Let us know what you do and what you discover.