hi,my van loses water and i add some occasionally but today the temp gauge rose quickly while sitting in traffic and cooled to normal once i got on highway and had clear sailing. Got stuck in traffic and gauge seemed to rise 40 degrees in a minute all winter had terrible heat went to mechanic 6 months ago a got heater and radiator flushed and changed thermostat before winter. Have recently changed transducer and governor in trans along with fluid and filter and both o2 sensors. I notice a bit of water coming out of tailpipe when first start and a bit of smoke which goes away after a couple of minutes. If anyone can point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

What I usually do is warm up the vehicle and feel around the radiator to make sure it's heated evenly.

Does your radiator fan work properly? What are the chances the thermostat you had put in was no good?

Steve

 

ok on further work on van i first parked on hill squeezed top rad hose and turned on heat and low and behold water dropped and added a gallon plus it seems it was air locked and i think rad cap is bad which causes water to escape thru overflow and when i added water is was only like a quart i never turned on heat when adding water. I will get new cap and update

 

Bad fan clutch. Above 35 MPH the motion of the vehicle forces enough air through the radiator to make the fan unnecessary, below that if the fan spins too slow the temp rises.

 

Fan clutch failure.

 

update, i replaced radiator and all is well. could not believe how shot old one was

 

I have 3 over 15 year old vehicles and I find that even a well maintained rad needs replaced after 12-13 years... fan clutch too...

I did that to my '01 190K van 2 years ago.

glad you got your problem fixed

 

agreed