Car Overheating When Idle
 

When Idle, my heat guage goes to almost full and I have to get up to pretty good speed for the air to cool it down, then as soon as i slow down or stop it goes back up, I've made sure the radiator is full. Please help.

RE: Car Overheating When Idle
 

there are a couple things it could be, clogged radiator, bad water pump, or your cooling fans arent engaging when the car is at idle.

RE: Car Overheating When Idle
 

When troubleshooting this, make sure that you don't run the engine hot for too long. Heat will eventually cause damage. You can turn on your heater full blast to help cool your engine when driving. I had to do this while stuck in a trafffic jam in 95 degree weather while in a traffic jam in Chicago. Its very uncomfortable, but will help cool your car down.

there are a couple things it could be: clogged radiator, bad water pump, or your cooling fans arent engaging when the car is at idle. Sounds to me like you have a cooling fan problem.

Are you losing radiator fluid at all?

I would start troubleshooting with the easiest then work up to the harder stuff. (Fans, temp sensor, plugged coolant system, thermostat, then water pump)

To test the fans:

Since air moving through your radiator when accelerating cools the engine, check your fans. Open the hood and see if the fans are working when you are overheating at idle.

Turn on your A/C and make sure that that both fans turn on.

If they work with the A/C on and not when overheating, then something is wrong with the fan circuit. Check for ~12 volts at the plug for the fan when overheating with a voltmeter.

Check fuse for coolant temperature switch, radiator fan relay and condenser fan relay.

If the fans are ok, then you will have to move on to the temperature sensor.

RE: Car Overheating When Idle
 

i recently had this problem, raditor blew at 181k miles, then 184k miles this problem occured, problem was the thermostat, replaced it and the gasket just before i went on a trip, durin the trip i was stuck in traffic jam 2 times, 1st was for 2hrs and the 2nd was 3 hrs, not once did the hand ever try to raise over normal.

RE: Car Overheating When Idle
 

I forgot to mention that I bought an aftermarket lightweight radiator about 10 months ago... so I'm not sure if the clogging or leaking would be a problem, may be the fans, I will wait until daylight then go out and check.

RE: Car Overheating When Idle
 

if you go to our DIY section there is a post about overheating.. look it up ..

RE: Car Overheating When Idle
 

I did nothing to fix it, but the problem seems to have stopped... odd.

RE: Car Overheating When Idle
 

let us know if it happens again

RE: Car Overheating When Idle
 

I wish I had this kind of luck where problems fix themselves!!

RE: Car Overheating When Idle
 

i had a similar issue a couple of months after getting my accord, there was a coolant leak coming from what looked like the bottom left side of the radiator, I flushed it, refilled it and put a new cap on and all of a sudden it quit and havent had a problem since.