2000 grand am - overheating??

[rockojr]

I have a 2000 grand am and when sitting idle or in stop/go heavy traffic the temp gauge on car almost redlines - then once I start driving the temp goes to normal again.

Anyone out there seen this?? Thanks in advance!

[pcv]

Make sure your coolant is full. If it is low, check for leaks. Repair leaks. Replace thermostat next and verify coolant fan operation.

[team_aed]

Shit in the summer my GA runs extremely warm. I am in AZ though, its like this state just bears down the heat on your motor.... A/C only makes it worse.

[jcooli09]

This same thing happened to me in my 96, turned out to be low on coolant due to a bad water pump. The weep hole is in a place where I never saw any leaks.

Boy, did that job suck!

[BrainSick]

I have a 98 Grand Am, and it does the same thing as yours. With mine, the electric cooling fan doesnt come on until just below the red line on the gauge. It is fine while cruising because their is plenty of air flow through the radiator. The thermostat is most likely not the problem.
Let your engine idle sometime and watch your fan, and watch your gauge. The fan will probably kick on right before it gets to the red line.
I was looking for information to see if this is normal once, and I found something that said the cooling fan doesnt kick on until the coolant temp reaches like 200 and something. I don't know though, because I have seen other grand-am's whose fan's kicked on earlier than mine.
I haven't seen in problems due to this in my car yet though, and it has 130,000 miles on it.

[DoctorSpeed.com]

Sounds like a fan or fan relay problem. Could also be the water pump going bad, but it's not likely. When you turn on your AC, do the fans come on? If not, it's most likely your fan relay.

[cvanhorn]

Rockojr

I too have a 2000 Grand Am (SE V6) and I have this problem every Summer. Last fall, at 42K miles, I had the entire coolant system replaced (nothing beats dropping $1K into your vehicle soon after the warranty expires) and while I no longer smell coolant when I use the cabin climate control, I still find that my temperature rises to about 215 degrees. It's never gotten into the red.

I don't know of any certain solution, but whenever I know I'm going to be idling for a while I put the car in neutral, it sits much smoother that way and seems to slow down the rise in temperature.