ok so i just bought a 1995 oldsmobile cutlass its an automatic, and has a refurbished transmission. so on with the question, so every time i go up a hill the temp gage goes over the middle line (the line that it should be at.) i mean it doesnt go over the third line which i am assuming is the danger zone cause it starts to get red after that. it stays in between the two. it seems to mainly do it after i go up a hill and sometime after the hill it will for a few seconds. like i said after large hill and after i have driven for a minute or two it goes back to the middle. and then it is fine. could someone please tell me what is wrong. and no i didnt have it checked out by a mechanic. i know dumb of me. but this really has me worried cause i had a plymouth that would go all the way to over heat and ended up needing head gasket and temp gage or whatever thats called. someone please help.
oh and it has 138000 miles on it.
When was the last time the coolant was changed? How long has it been acting this way? Under want conditions (outside temperature)?
I suspect you have no problems at all.
i have a different set of Q’s for you.
have you gotten down in front of the car and made sure the radiator isn’t covered with leaves, junk, debris? look at the radiator with a flashlight and see if you can actually see through the cooling fins. is it clear? i ask because one of my brothers cars went through a paint job, and the overspray into the radiator really clogged the fins good. (it actually put a mist of paint over the normal crud on the fins which was impossible to clean after that)
do you hear the cooling fan running? yours most likely has an electric fan. when the car is hot, open the hood and see if the fan is operating. (NO, dont stick your fingers in it to see if it’s running, just look at it!) if it’s not running, have it looked at.
have you checked the radiator water level? (when the engine is cold, of course!) and the radiator overflow bottle?
when you drive along,olnce the car is warmed up, put the AC on. do you notice a difference in the temperature also?
drive with it on for a while, then turn the AC off. any difference?
if the AC makes a difference the cooling system may need to be looked at.
from your basic description the cooling system probably needs cleaning or at least checked out.
well here in ohio it has been pretty hot. i just had the coolant and everyhting checked at walmart right after i bought it. it had an oil change and everything. i will check the level again though. i just noticed it recently i just bought it like a week ago. it runs great.
would the guys at walmart have noticed it needed a cleaning i know that when my head gasket blew on my plymouth after it was fixed i went there to have an oil change and they saw the remnents of it and put that they thought i had a blown headgasket. ac need the fluid so it doesnt work. i will look to see if there is any debree.
its been in the 80’s.