Cooling issue?

[mygalantwasfree]

Is it normal for our cars to get hot while going up steep hills? The high was 89 degrees today, and I started noticing my temperature gauge beginning to climb above normal while driving up highway 421 towards Boone, NC. There's a big hill between Wilkesboro, NC and Boone, NC. This stretch of highway is listed by the NC DOT as having an 8% grade for 4 miles.

The farthest the temp needle would go was almost to the 3/4 mark. This was with the heat running full blast on recirculation mode and the windows down (I instinctively blasted the heat. I don't know how hot it would've gotten with no heat on). Speed was about 65mph up the grade. The auto trans cycles between 3rd and OD at this speed, with the average RPM at about 4000-4500.

Is this something I should worry about? I don't have any coolant leaks, and have zero cooling problems while driving on normal roads and highways. This stretch of 421 is unusually steep and causes people to go pretty slow (on average, 10-20mph under the posted 55mph speed limit). The engine was still pretty hot after cresting the hill, and didn't really reach the normal temp again until I had driven about 2-3 miles on flat highway. I replaced the thermostat last August. The coolant level is "full", and the coolant itself is about 2 years old. The odometer reads 142,000 miles.

Thanks!!!

[mko]

Same thing here man. It almost overheated today. It was low on coolant, but for some reason the coolant from the overflow tank doesnt get sucked in when the system needs it. IDK its weird the coolant was pushed out thru the coolant overflow, I could see it dripping under the car.

[mygalantwasfree]

I just thought of something. Earlier today, about 30 minutes before the temp flared up on the uphill climb, I noticed that the two hold-down nuts on the distributor were missing. I'm thinking maybe that my ignition timing might be off now. As far as I know, ignition timing that's too advanced can cause overheating as well. Time to buy a timing light...

[mygalantwasfree]

Same thing here man. It almost overheated today. It was low on coolant, but for some reason the coolant from the overflow tank doesnt get sucked in when the system needs it. IDK its weird the coolant was pushed out thru the coolant overflow, I could see it dripping under the car.

Was the coolant being pushed out of the overflow while the engine was running??? I would assume the worst! That would make me paranoid that my HG was blown. (doesn't mean yours' is, I'm just always afraid of that stuff)

[mko]

it was pushed out when I turned off the engine.

And retarded timing causes overheating

[w/oarctic7g]

May just need to get the inside of radiator cleaned. I had a radiator rodded years ago in California, I guess its a common service there and it was pretty cheap. The car had never run so cool.

[Isaurio]

Yeah when was the last time you did a coolant flush. It always a good idea to do it every 6 month or so to keep all the lines clean and free of rust and keep water pump blade clean. UMM talking about that i have to do my TB coolant bypass for the summer and flush it again.

[mygalantwasfree]

I'll give it a flush. Thanks!

[Isaurio]

Cool. Let us know.

[eksz]

A coolant flush every 6 month is over kill and unfortunately, a waste of money. Most of today's antifreezes are good for at least 2 years and many are rated for 5 years. Have the radiator rodded (indepth cleaning and removal of any scale build up). While you are doing this consider replacing your thermostadt. If the thermostadt is hanging up (not opening up completely when it is suppose to) your car will be very prone to overheating. You could just remove the thermostadt and see what happens. With the thermostadt removed the problem is the engine takes a lot longer to warm up. If you are still running hot with the thermostadt removed then you you know it is definately the radiator is not effectively cooling the coolant and needs cleaning/rodding.

[JesterX]

Flushing the system every 6 months is definitely a waste, like eksz said. I would flush it good, replace the t-stat since you have the system open anyway and make sure you run some sort of good cleaner through it. The prestone flush works pretty well and at work I have also used regular dish soap too, just not too muck or you will be flushing the system all day

[mygalantwasfree]

Thanks guys. The thermostat was replaced ~10 months ago.

In retrospect of my OP, I think the problem is that my radiator is simply s**t. I banged it up big time when I first installed it 3 years ago (partly due to inexperience), creating leaks in it that were patched with epoxy. Then, after replacing the radiator, my friend drove my car for me one night while I was drunk, and proceeded to hit a deer. This further screwed my radiator, and it was patched again. I think it just needs to be replaced. Too many patches are on it now, which decreases the surface area for cooling...