overheating... what next?

[johnnieg]

I have replaced...
Water pump
Hoses
Coolant
Thermostat(pulled out a 180*, put in a 195*)
After doing all this I kept an eye on the temp gage and it would take a bit longer to warm up, go past 210 (what it normally ran at), go to about the 3/4 mark, then come back down between the 1/4 and 210 mark.
BUT... last night i was crusing around 55-60 and the gage crept slowly through the range, past the redline, off the scale. There was no smoke, no sounds, nothing. I pop the hood and I can wrap my hand around the cap and the thermostat housing and it's just a little warm, not glowing, not scalding, just warm. The recovery tank wasn't full. So i shut the hood and hop back in and with it in park bring it up to about 2000 rpms and hold it there. After about 30 secords the gage shoots back down to the 1/4 mark. Could it be a bad heat riser or gage? I dunno, all help is appreciated. /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif

 

[Can Can]

I'd be willing to bet that the problem is either your sender, your gauge, or somewhere in between.

 

[johnnieg]

So if it really was overheating, I wouldn't be able to touch anything on the cooling system, right?

 

[justhorsinaround]

Yup, no touchy, to hotty. I'm runnin into a prollem with my bro-in-law's pickup. The upper radiator hose get's way to hot to touch. Anywho, I'm thinkin it's prolly your sender from what you say with all the temp jumps and what not. Good luck to ya.

Allan

 

[99firehawk]

Mine used to do that, the wire to the sender (the sender is in the drivers side head abut 5 inchs from the front of the head) droped on the header and was shorting out. fixed the burned wire and tied it up and it works great now.