*Warning- Grab a beer (or ten) this will be a long one*
Wasn't sure if it belonged in general or not. Please move it if it doesn't belong here.
Over the past 2 days i have noticed some weird temperature showing up. Now i usually start my car and don't start driving until the temp has started to move past 100*. Now once i started driving i hit the highway before it gets to the normal operating temperature of 180*. Now i have started noticing the temp going creeping up and up over the past couple nights. Yesterday on the way home i noticed on the highway it hit 200* and stayed there for a bit and went back down to 180*. This shocked me. It was about 0* outside and i was going about 60MPH. It usually only goes past that when idle. Well i forgot to check it on the way to work today but i remembered when i left. When i hit the highway i made it to 200* again. and stayed there. I drove for about 10-15 minutes with the temp creeping just past 200* until I got off the highway (cuz i missed my exit, i was paying to much attention to the darn temp gauge) and turned around to get back on. Just before i got onto the highway again I checked and saw my temp was just a shade under 225*. So i gave it some gas (I didn't gun it) and my temp just dropped to 200*. It stayed between 200* and 225* until I got to my destination. The tempature outside was -11*C or 22*F.

On my way home it stayed at pretty much 225 and dropped to 200 every now and again. This is when i started sweating. I finally got home. I turned around in my dead end and from the time i started the turn to the time i pulled in front of my house the temp dropped from about 210* to 190. It'* less than 100 feet from the dead end to my my parking spot in front of my house. I decided to let it idle to see if the temp would go up and it didn't. So i shut the car off and ran inside to hit the forums.

I am now SERIOUSLY weirded out and worried about what the problem could be. I only had two things that i thought it could be. The T-stat (which i just put in about 6 months ago) and the water pump(oh crap if it is). I searched the forums here and the only thing i got was a coolant sensor possibly going or is bad.

If any of you guys could confirm this or give me some other possibilities it would be greatly appreciated.

And I'm sorry but i did not pay attention to the fans. I didn't think about it till i saw the other posts. I can run the car tomorrow and check them if it will help you guys out more.

Once again Thank you,
Rubix

Let'* start with the basics.
How'* the coolant level & is the antifreeze strong enough so it'* not freezing when the temps are near 0?

What was the oil preassure gauge doing while the temp was going nuts?

Usually when the thermostat gets old the temps will run high like this. My 96 SE was doing the same thing until I put an advance auto stant in it. What brand of stat are you running and have you tried opening the bleeder screw to see if any air is trapped?
Advance in Bristol has them for $8.

Hey, Hey! I lost my internet for most of the day so i couldn't post sooner.

The level of coolant is where it should be for cold right now. i'll start it up tomorrow to see how it handles idle and driving temps again. Now as for the strength of the anti freeze. I really don't know how to check without waiting for it to freeze outside. Or i just put some in the freezer?

I was watching my oil pressure too in cased it dropped and it never did. It was always at just below 40 PSI

More than a year ago I had Sears do the flush and fill on the car and i would say at the end of summer i put in a new 180* T-stat from napa or autozone.I did bleed the screw after i got home from sears and think i got most if not all of it. I let it run untill there weren't any bubbles. If i find the box the T-stat came in I'll say something. Other than that the only other thing that catches my attention is the build up of black gunk in the reservoir tank. Don't know what it is, but i doubt it could be good. I can try to put a picture up later.

Thanks,
Rubix

Like Technical Ted, said, check the coolant level first. Do this when the engine is cold by opening the radiator cap. Coolant should be all the way up to the overflow port.

While you have the radiator cap off, see if you ahve a buildup of the same black gunk on/around the underside of the cap.

Rubix.. got my internet back a little bit ago. Bad cable modem..

You around tomorrow?

Pm on way.

well i just went for a ride in my car. i wanted to go for a test drive so i went on some back roads and hopped on the highway. Along the back roads the temp was at 180. I got on the highway it was at 180. I was on the highway for about 5 minutes. On the way home i saw the temp go up to 200. When i got to the road my house is on it was 225. I did 13 mph on my road. took me a couple minutes to pull into my driveway. it was still at 225. I got out of my car and popped the hood to check my fans. They were not on. I went to check the temp gauge and it was mid-way between 200-225. I let it idle for a couple minutes and it slowly went back to 200. I turned the car off and on again to see if the gauge would change and it didn't.

I just went out to check the coolant in the radiator and it is all the way up. but it does have black gunk in it. It still looks nice and green.

And i will be here all day tomorrow.

Call me when you get up...

That'* wierd!