ok so i noticed this once befor on a longer trip, my car started to raise the temp gauge. but never to the red always about 3/4 the way then it bounces from there to normal. after the car sat over night it hasnt happened again until tonight, that was about a month ago. tonight i barely drove maybe 10 miles temp fine. car was parked for bout an hour than went 1/2 mile to the freeway and al the sudden the gauge shot up 3/4 and has been hopping around since. i noticed the top raidator hose is really hot while the lower is not hot at all, this im not sure if its normal or not. any suggestions? i dont really have the money to try and go through all the solutions through elimination the car has 103k, my friend said it could need to be flushed, could be bad hose but i pulled the hose off it seemed fine. and yes theres plenty of fluids. any help would be great

 

thermostat not opening?

 

Yeah, I would guess your thermostat is sticking, replace it. It's a cheap part and easy to get to.

 

This

Or it could be the fan controller.

Mine would raise while idle then drop back down once i got going.
I was thinking thermostat as well but it wasn't. Just a suggestion.

 

i do know my fan controll unit is messed up but the fans come on still. mine does not raise at idle it drops. and definatly raises when i go up hill

 

No way it's the fans. The hose is the clue to this one. Hot upper hose and cold lower. The coolant flows out of the engine block into the lower hose, which is where the therm. is located. Cold lower hose means that the coolant isn't being allowed to leave the block and the thermostat would be the only cause of that.

 

well my gf is going to get my new thermostat now. but i took the old one and boiled it to test it and it seems to be opening and closing. but it goin bad could explain why the gauge hops around?

 

after a test drive going uphill it still raised with a new thermostat... any other ideas?

 

perhaps there's something blocking the coolant through the radiator or a hose somewhere.

try this: remove the thermostat all-together. Go for a drive. Still heats up?

 

Low coolant?

 

Well I burped the system again and it didn't heat up for a good drive. It did rais slightly on the hill in my diveway at the end of the drive so I reburped it so I'll keep an eye on it today. It doesn't seem like theirs any blockage in the hoses. And there's plenty of coolant

 

Headgasket. Causes that same issue. I would block test it. If you have any questions let me know.

 

well that would be just crap if its the head gasket.

 

wow, after the thermostat and it still didn't fix the problem? hope you get the problem fix bro

 

How do you bock test it? I'll kno fr sure Thursday if it's fixed now. Have to drive to my gparents an it seems to be heating when I drove there to replace my therm.