For the first time ever, my temp gauge actually went over that one line before the "flag" symbol (or whatever it is). Had been in traffic for about 20 minutes, put on the AC since i was burning up in the heat..after about 3 minutes of AC i looked at the temperature gauge and it was surpassing the flag thing at a rapid rate. i turned off the AC asap and put the heat on full blast (this killed me, but better me than my baby) and it finally went close to normal. Anyone having hot engine problems in this hot weather like me?

 

Doesn't sound normal to me. Granted, you were in some pretty hrash conditions with the slow trafic, AC and hot weather, but your car should be able to handle that without overheating.

 

When my Mazda did that, it was because the thermostat was stuck closed. Didn't become a problem until the weather warmed up and the car actually needed the radiator.

 

Do you have enough coolant?

 

Check your fan connections, and thermostat. One time my car started overheating with AC on, and it was because the fan did not come on. The connection was bad. Another time it would it overheat whether the AC was on or not. That problem (after replacing the fan ) was a bad thermostat.

 

Brian, the thermostat went bad in my Supra on the way back from the beach a few years ago. It did the same thing your car did. The other options discussed are also very possible. Good luck.

 

"this killed me, but better me than my baby"

 

hehe, my sweat can be cleaned away, but an overheated engine cant be wipped away with a rag. to people who would sacrifice comfort for the sake of the R. jajaaj.

 

also check the ground cable, one on the tranny, its funny I know, but that happens to my car, temperature gauge goes really high because of my grounding to the tranny side is not grounding good.