Topped off coolant and made sure that there were no air in the system. Went for a drive about 15 miles. side streets and freeway. It wasn't till I got off the freeway and was sitting at a light, that the temp start to rise from half. It got 3/4 of the way up the gauge and I turned on the a/c to kicked the fans on and the temp went back to half for the next 6 miles back to my house temp was normal with a/c and heat to HOT. Got home popped the radiator cap very hot. with the car running no circulation.

Upper hose warm, Lower hose almost ice cold. I can touch the thermostat housing on the hose side but on the other side it was so hot couldn't even touch it.

Got the car torn down to check the water pump, just waiting for impact gun to get the lower pulley loose. The funny thing is the timing belt looks almost brand new. The previous owner was pretty sure he had it done around 100K.

Will keep updated as soon as I get the water pump off.

 

Are you sure this isn't a t-stat issue????? Didn't re-read everything, sorry it is late for me, have you pulled the t-stat and run the car? WP, most of the time, will either work or not.......

So the only time the fans kicked on when the overheat issue happened was when the ac was turned on.????????

 

I had the thermostat out at one point and ran the car, no circulation. I even boiled it to make sure that it opened and it did.

Yes the only time I could get the fans to kick on was when I had the A/C on.

 

When running, rad cap on, heater set to heat.......open the bleeder for the cooling system.....what happens?