Overheating

[bobmumgaard]

Summer has hit in the great plains and my temps are way up. I've been running above 200 degs on the interstate. With temps pegging up to the 220's. I am planning to rip apart the VX to replace the waterpump, hoses, timing belt and tensioner sometime next week.

I was wondering if the thermostat might be to blame. Is there a test to find if the thermostat is working right? I really don't want to dig that far under the manifold to replace it if I don't have to. Anybody know of these failing?

Or should I go ahead with the maintainence I have planned and see if the coolant flush fixes the problem.

Oh, one more thing. The radiator is clean, washed it down just the other day, didn't really help the problem too much.

[PHO2GR4]

I've heard it's better to eat a good breakfast, then snack on small meals the rest of the day. That way you won't get TOO hungry at dinner time and eat everything in sight!

Sometimes in the past I'd skip breakfast, then only have time for a quick lunch, and then eat an entire pizza in the evening because I was famished!

Sleeping on a full stom.....what? Not overEATING? OverHEATing? Awww, that's a completely different topic!

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When I was cruising around through the deserts near Moab a few weeks ago, outside temps were often over 95 degrees. My heatshield has been removed due to rust issues and rattling, so I've got NO extra protection under the hood.

Still (knock on wood!) I've never seen my temp gauge go up over the halfway point. I guess I just assumed that the VX's cooling system was really good! I had it flushed and refilled at 63,000 miles, and all is well so far.

In fact, after all these years on multiple VX forums, I really haven't heard anything at all about a VX overheating!

Please keep us posted on anything you find when you do the tear-down. Good luck!

[tom4bren]

I've never heard of a way to test a thermostat without removing it. Still it is the first step I've always taken when dealing with overheating.