Ok wtf!!! Overheating problem on my thunderchicken

[chacho44]

97 bird, 4.6,,,, in time the gauge will rise to hot, but I turn the ac in and it drops to the middle. Changed the stat already, burped it, and still doin the same thing. Seems fine, fans are working, no smoke . WTF is going on, I don't think its the temp gauge sensor. Car has 60k on it

 

[dave89iroc]

That have electric fans?

 

[chacho44]

Yes

 

[chacho44]

I just replaced the auto zone stat with a dealer one. They are different looking, wrenching on it now

 

[CamaroKid91Z]

Sounds like a fan issue to me.... either your primary fan is not turning on when it needs to, or it just got weak over the years and isn't working efficiently enough. Do you have an infared thermometer... check the temperatures of all hoses.

 

[1BADAIR]

yep. sounds like a fan issue or maybe a plugged condensor/rad.
Normally turning the a/c would cause more heat but it appears the high fan/ac fan may be doing the cooling

 

[chacho44]

The fan does turn on, the gauge still shows it getting hot. I was gonna pick up a temp sensor tomorrow.