Having some cooling issues that I need assistance with on my son’s 1997 CL 3.0. I have replaced the items below, but I am thinking the culprit might be the aftermarket thermostat.

The car heats up to the normal spot, but hovers around halfway while driving. As soon as you stop, it climbs up to hot and the fan turns on. The AC fan works as it should when the AC is on.

I had the car at the dealer and they said the temp was fine when it was plugged into their computer. They suggested the cluster gauge might be bad, that it’s reading hotter than the actual temp. Last night I plugged in my code reader/scanner and the temp reached 203 degrees before the fan turned on. The fan always turns on when it reaches hot.

Replaced:
Thermostat - Aftermarket
Coolant
Coolant Temp Sensor
Cooling Fan Sensor
Cooling Fan Timer
Cluster

Anyone have any suggestions on why it appears to be overheating?

 

I'm thinking air in the coolant system. Did you open the heater valve when filling coolant and bleed all the air out of the system?

Was the thermostat installed right side out and with vent hole on top?

 

I ran the car up to temp, but I did not have the heater on.

Thermostat was installed right side out, but not sure about the vent hole. I think, for piece of mind, I'll replace the thermostat with an OE part, vent hole on top and I'll refill with the heater valve open.

At least that's a start.

 

Thats the problem. .. air in system.

Try this first.

Open heater and top off coolant. Leave cap loose and start the car and let it idle untill fan comes on twice then top off again. Then tighten the cap fully and top off over flow tank... close cap gently or cap will break.

 

I'll try that. Might not be until the weekend and I'll report back with my findings.

Thanks for your help.

 

I ran the car for a while on Friday with the radiator cap off. I kept getting small bubbles coming from the radiator. I am starting to think it may have a bad headgasket.

Also, I got another used cluster out of the junkyard on Saturday. This one only has 78k miles. Installed it and I am still having the same issues. Beginning to believe that there may be a wiring issue with the temp sensor. I am confident that it's not overheating though.