temperature needle going sky high... help!

[tunky]

What's up everybody

I need your help. My temperature needle rises all the way to the max point and this only happens like in the middle of the day when is very hot outside. As soon as I start the car at noon the needle rises up and I drive like maybe five minutes or less and it goes to regular position again.

Please let me know what you all think might be the problem. Thanks

[travis_118]

make sure you radiator is full of antifreeze....and your hoses arent leaking.

[ci5ic]

Also, check to make sure your cooling fan is working. It sounds as though when your car is stationary, it overheats, but when it is in motion (with air being forced through the radiator) it is okay... The fan is used when the car is at a stand-still and low speeds, but turns off when the car is going fast enough to provide it's own air-flow...

Air-conditioning could also cause this problem, if you're running it while the car is stationary, it will draw all the cool air out of the engine bay, causing the engine to heat up... Happens to me in my Jeep Cherokee alot, so I have to turn off the AC when I'm not moving.

[GTA]

Have you changed anything with the cooling system recently? When i changed my thermostat and radiator, i forgot to bleed the cooling system. This caused my needle to go up when my car was stationary.

[civicHBsi91]

drain your radiator then fill it back up with new colant (if you havent already) then bleed it, thats what helped me, i also didnt have much of a gasket left between the upper radiator hose connection and the engine the gasket between the 2 it was basically gone, check that they are like 97 cents or sumthin like that, just check everything, good luck