Questions and Answers

Overheating Cavalier?

Q. Dear Mr. Ciulla, I have a problem and perhaps you can help me. My car was overheating, and being the do it yourself type guy I am, I decided to change the thermostat. Unfortunately this was not the problem. After further review, I decided it was the water pump. This job looked a little too technical for me, so I had my local mechanic change the water pump and flush my cooling system. This seemed to work at first.

What happens now, is that when I first start my car, the car slowly heats up until it the temperature gauge hits the "red zone" and stays there a few seconds before descending to a "normal" operating range, somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of the temperature gauge. And this happens every time I start my car.

This seems to be fine, but I don't think that constantly running my car at a high temperature, even for a short period of time, could be very healthy for it. What do you think? What could be the problem here? By the way, the car is a 1992 Chevrolet Cavalier. Any help you can give is GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks a lot!
Jeff

A. Mr. Ciulla? Are you from the IRS by any chance?

I have seen this before. When a thermostat heats up, there is a spring that expands and slowly opens the thermostat. What is happening here, either from improper installation or a slightly bent thermostat, is that instead of opening slowly, it's getting to temperature and snapping open. I would take this one out and put in a new one and that should take care of the problem.