about a month ago, i was stuck in traffic on 40, at night, and it was pretty cool outside...i saw a red light come on in my peripheral vision, looked down, and sure enough...the temp light was on and the temp gauge needle was in the red

whenever i would start moving, it would cool off and the light would go out...since then, i haven't been in any stop-and-go situation for that amount of time, but the temp raises pretty quickly when i'm just sitting there...is this how most cars overheat? when there's no fresh air coming in? i checked the coolant level and it was only a very tiny bit low, so i topped it off...it still comes close to overheating, though

it seems to happen whether the A/C is on or not...radiator fan, then? anyone know if my car (2002 saturn SL1) is belt driven or electric?

suggestions?

[Edited on September 12, 2009 at 4:48 PM. Reason : .]

9/12/2009 4:40:39 PM

Fan?

9/12/2009 4:46:23 PM

^ aha, i just edited my post to suggest that

since it's only happening at idle, i'm assuming that's it...i'm also assuming it's electric and not belt/clutch

9/12/2009 4:49:41 PM

It could be fan related. do the radiator fans come on at all? if not, maybe the fan relay is bad. Or if they come on, do they seem to be spinning really slow? The motor could be worn to the point that the fan doesn't cool efficiently. I had that happen to the GM fan I run on my Rx-7. It still worked, but it didn't work well enough for to cool the engine.

9/12/2009 4:51:37 PM

check the fan fuse

9/12/2009 4:51:55 PM

9/12/2009 4:53:10 PM

yo u got dis fan and it be likes what's up motha fuxcka say what

9/12/2009 7:56:35 PM

check the relay first. use a multimeter to see if the fan is getting power.

if the relay is fine and the fan gets power, then a fan replacement should be all you need.

[Edited on September 13, 2009 at 12:53 AM. Reason : my car didn't ever overheat, even in 100+ deg temps, but the fan did die.]

9/13/2009 12:53:07 AM

How many miles? If it's not a fan issue, it may be the water pump. I've heard worn water pump impeller blades can erode/corrode to the point of not pumping enough coolant to efficiently cool the block, especially on smaller engines with a lot of mileage on the original pump. The faster rpm can still move the coolant fine but at lower rpms it isn't cutting it.

[Edited on September 13, 2009 at 2:51 AM. Reason : 140k-160k miles?]

9/13/2009 2:46:41 AM

Yeah, could be several things. I had a crack in my radiator that was spraying coolant, and it still stayed cool as long as I was moving.

9/13/2009 3:45:00 AM

I have a '99 SL-1 that had this same issue. Turns out if the R-134 level gets too low, the cooling fan won't come on. I got one of those recharge kits w/the built in gauge and now the fan works.

9/13/2009 5:11:51 AM

air in the system

9/13/2009 5:11:49 PM

my 96 ford escort used to have the same problem. the engine eventually failed.

9/13/2009 5:24:36 PM

get rid of that pos

10/15/2009 4:16:17 PM