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Q & A: Overheating

I've been planning to run our Midget over to you for lubrication service from Saugatuck (likely on a Saturday morning), but it has been increasingly tending to run hot and I'm concerned about the heat build-up from the highway speeds on the trip over. I suspect that the thermostat may not be fully opening. Nancy and I took a drive to the beach and along Lakeshore Drive, nothing faster than 40-45 mph mind you, and through town last weekend and by the time we got back to the garage the temperature gauge was nearly pegged on the hot side. At speed the temperature drops, it is just when you slow down or idle in traffic that the temperature runs up high quickly.

Up until last year sometime in the summer months, she ran mostly cool, hardly moving the needle beyond the normal range even with a longer drive at higher speeds. No unusual noises, water pump vibrations or anything thing else obvious with the cooling system. Heater seemed to work fine in the fall, too, so I think the water is circulating okay. Fluid level looks okay to me, too. I was going to order a new thermostat and swap out the one in place along with the gasket, but before I create a bigger problem for myself with too little time to work on it, I thought I'd write.

Changing the thermostat may be a solution. Make sure that the cooling system is full by checking the filler plug on the radiator itself, not just the expansion tank. Or, it may be that the engine is producing more heat than the radiator can diss... read more