Ok, I have an 03 Cavalier and today, on the way home from work, I noticed the temp gauge was a few notches above 195.. I thought it was a little odd, but it IS pretty hot outside today.. so no biggie. Well.. it didn't seem to be dropping, so I turned the heater all the way up, full blast to the floor vents to reduce the heat under the hood. Nothing.. in fact it went UP another notch. Ok.. so, I popped the hood so the air from outside would maybe cool off the engine some. Again, nothing. I get home, turn off the car, and the temp gauge goes down like it normally does.. but instead of going all the way down.. it stops about half way. I'm like, "wtf?", so I turn the key to on (engine off) and the gauge jumps all the way to 265. I turn the key off and back on, and this time it jumps past 265, almost going into the speedometer range.
Anyone else have this problem? Could it be the TSU acting up? Should I just disconnect the negative cabke for a few minutes to let the gauges reset?
I'm getting a little tired of this car to be honest. It's only an 03, and I take very good care of it, but I've already had to replace the back-up switch, battery (big surprise there </sarcasm>
and the purge valve.
Thanks in advance to anyone who has some info.
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Well MSD
How long has it been since youre cooling system has been serviced? Youre temp sending unit could be fouling up, Hows youre Fan working good or its not turning on? Youre thermostat could be sticking as well, I would take a look at youre thermostat replace it. Maybe a flush job, with fresh coolant may help you out.
Good Luck
keep us updated.
Update:
I went by my job, ordered the Coolant Temp switch/sending unit, then I went outside and disconnected the negative cable. The gauge dropped to it's normal "off" position. I connected the cable back and it stayed down. Started the car and now the gauge acts fine. I've been driving it around all afternoon and it hasn't once gone over 195, so I'm guessing it's fine. No idea what would've caused it to do that in the first place though, so I'm keeping an eye on it.
As for the cooling system, the fluid level was completely fine, and the anti-freeze wasn't discoloured in anyway. Hoses felt fine too. My car has about 60400 miles on it.. and SUPPOSEDLY the coolant is good for 100k miles.. but who knows.
Like I said, I'm keeping an eye on it right now.. I'll keep you guys updated if anything changes. Thanks again.
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Thats awsome man I am glad youre trouble shooting worked for ya,
TSU may have needed to be 'recalibrated/reset'. The negative disconnect probably did that. If it helps, My '96 2.2 will run a tad hotter than normal with the heater on full, no clue as to why. When I drop it into 4th @ highway speeds, it runs slightly cooler sometimes. When you shut 'er down, the engine heat will equalize (heatsoak), so you would get a hotter reading until coolant flows again. As for the coolant lasting 100K miles, yes it will. Had mine flushed out @ 100K miles as per the maintenance schedule. The engine now has 181K+ total life WITHOUT Dex-Cool sludging up anywhere. 'Nother flush due in ~20K miles.
