I have a 03 Tribute. Replaced the water pump (leaking). Replaced the fan assembly (not working). Replaced the thermostat (just becuase). Not I start out fine. 30 min later the temp starts to climb then fall and climb and fall but still in the hot side near the red. Fans are blowing like crazy but its still running real hot.

Any advice from the Tribute Family?

 

Not sure about the 'bute, but I had a Windstar that was a bitch to burb the air pockets out of the coolant.

If you changed the water pump, you lost a lot of coolant. You might have an air pocket in there after you refilled. Put the heater on and see if you lose heat when the car starts running hot. If so, that's a strong indication of it being air bound.

John

 

Jack the front of the vehicle up as high as possible, remove the radiator cap, top up the coolant, turn the heater to hot, start the engine, run it up and keep an eye on the temp gauge. Also use a thermometer to check the coolant temp. If all that fails give the whole cooling system a huge flush. Remove the two radiator hoses & run a hose full blast thru the radiator.

 

Thanks for the reply John. When it starts running hot I turn the heat on full blast and it drops temp to normal. Plenty of heat. But get this, if I take it out of overdrive the temp drops to normal. Found this out this morning. Still think it's air related? I'm stumped on this one.

 

I can try that too. I told John in my reply to him that if I take it out of overdrive the temp drops to normal. Still think it's air related? I'm stumped on this one.

 

When you take it out of overdrive, the rpm of the engine (and therefore the water pump) increases moving more coolant more quickly.

What's the history of all this? You replaced the water pump, was it for a leak or broken/rusted impeller? Was the temp normal before the pump was changed? Aftermarket, OEM or OEM rebuilt?

All of this is important because if temp was never a problem before the pump was changed, then I'd be inclined to think it's related to the pump or an air bubble that hasn't been purged.

If the problem pre-dated the pump being replaced, I'd lean towards a bad radiator.

John

 

Didn't think about the radiator.

At first the water pump was leaking from one of the lower bolts and it would overheat on occasion. I got tired of adding coolant so I replaced it. That's when things got goofy.

Tuesday I bougth more coolant and parked on a steep hill. Released the pressure and began adding cooland with the heater on and let it run and run. I didn't notice bubbles just the coolant circulating back into the tank.

Yesterday i drove from Vallejo to Sacramento and back about 100 miles and the temp stayed right in the middle without disengaging the overdrive. I thought hey we are good to go! Take off this morning and she slowly started climbing again right up to the red and she fell back down and then back up. I hit the overdive off button and she come down and stayed down. So it looks as though I need to check the radiator and replace the pump again? Sheesh im getting a litted tired.

Thank for all the help I really appreciate it.

 

Man that's odd. Ordinarily, I would guess instrumentation, and have you pick up one of those non contact infrared thermometers, but it seems it always drops temp when you take it out of overdrive.

I can't believe the trans is overheating to the point of heating your coolant through the radiator, but how does the trans fluid look?

Whenever I had a problem with a car overheating at highway speeds but not around town, it was always a partially plugged radiator. The IR thermo can pinpoint hot and cold spots on the radiator assuming you have a clear shot at reading it. Hot/cold spots will pinpoint a bad radiator.

John

 

Well, had the radiator replaced by a shop and I am in the same boat. Gets hot in overdrive and cools down when not. Called the radiator shop back and they want me to bring it back in. I need this as my daily driver so I have to wait to leave it with them. Really pissed that this is such a mystery to everyone. Of course I appreciate any and all comments.

 

So weird!!!!

I hinted in an earlier post about the transmission heating the coolant through the trans cooler section of the radiator. I want to make clear that I don't really believe this is the problem, but on the other hand, why is only overheating in overdrive?

If the shop has a thermocouple type temperature sensor for their DMM, see if they can attach it on the input side of the trans fluid coupler to the radiator. Perhaps the trans starts overheating in overdrive and transfers the heat to the coolant. Again, I don't believe this but everything has to be eliminated.

Alternatively, you can pick up an external cooler and plumb the trans into the external cooler rather than have it go through the radiator first.

Wild question: have you added anything by way of accessories to the front of the truck that would influence airflow?

John