1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse engine heating up when car stops or

1998 MITSUBISHI ECLIPSE
159,223 MILES • 4 CYL • 2WD • MANUAL
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SAMFILALI
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My car's engine heats up about when the vehicle is at a traffic stop light or just stopped while running. as soon as i increase the rpm, or the vehicle is moving the heating gage drops to normal level (half way). Altough about a week ago the engine was running cold with a gage indicating a quarter away. (below normal temperature of operation). it could be the radiator causing all this or could it be a thermostat? your ansewr is very much appreciated.
May 11, 2009 at 3:10 PM
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MONTY STEPHENS
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Of course you checked fluids.

When my Eclipse over heated it cracked the radiiator. I can tell you epoxy does not fix that. But long story short -- when a car overheats and you go the dealer, a good friend of mine is a Honda mechanic, they replace the temp sensor, the themrostat,the radiaotr (if its broke), the fans and the relays.

They take no chances. Its cheaper than a motor. I did all that on my car and never really did figure out exactly what the problem was. But it fixed it.
May 13, 2009 at 3:27 PM
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SMAKELA
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My car was doing the same thing. We replaced the radiator. It kept doing it. We replaced a fan that wasn't running at all and the thermostat. It still didn't help, so I replaced the water pump and the timing belt. The parts are expensive, but if you have a technical college that teaches an automotive tech class, they can do the labor for pretty cheap. And it does beat buying a new engine and then having to replace all those parts anyway.
My car has 169,000 miles on it and runs like a dream now.
May 19, 2009 at 12:38 PM
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