Today on my way home from work my 06 overheated and all the bells and whistles went off "engine overheating"...... Scared me to death, I have noticed this summer that it's getting a little hotter during regular driving, parking and then on restart. The temp gaauge usually stops at half way and never goes any higher, but lately it has been a notch or 2 above half way. It's more noticeable when you shut it off and get out for a few minutes and then restart it, that's usually when it's a couple notches above halfway. It usually cools righ back to normal, but today it was pegged at the top in traffic. I pulled into a Monroe muffler and let it sit for a little and then went in and asked the guy there what it could be. He replied with temp sensor/t-stat and said he could look at it tomorrow. I was not to close to home so he gave me about an almost full antifreeze jug full of water, I filled it with about 2/3 in the rad and put the rest in the overflow which was almost empty. I drove home with no problem at all and the gauge stayed at halfway the whole time......


I got to my home area and went to see my buddy and he did pretty much the same thing, topped it off a little more and said to keep an eye on the gauge. He also said if it acts up we can do a flush and fill and also change the t-stat, I hope it's not anything major that is needed. I can say this though, I haven't really checked the rad/coolant regularly so does anyone think it could have just been low on coolant/water? Let me know what you think, thanks everyone for listening/reading.........

 

Which engine? The 3.5 had issues with the coolant crossover pipe leading to overheats. They also had a head bolt TSB.

 

didn't know that, but I have the 3.9, 68,000 miles on it.....

 

You need to do a coolant pressure test on that thing (you can rent one at most auto parts stores). Losing coolant is not normal. The coolant is going somewhere and you need to find out where. It could be as simple as easy as a thermostat, or as bad as a blown head gasket and anything in between (bad water pump, bad intake gaskets, hoses, etc). The nice thing too about renting a coolant pressure testure is that you usually get all of your money back when you return the tester to the parts store.

I can tell you right now that it isn't the coolant temp sensor. It's doing it's job fine.

 

Sounds like it was low on coolant and the heat and traffic pushed it over the edge. Glad you were smart enough to stop, some people in this world would just keep on going Best of luck getting it sorted out

 

thanks guys for the responses, zipper (David) I don't think I'm losing any coolant, I think it could have just been low? I'll look into a pressure tester...... Thanks......

Keane, yes, I'm leaning towards that (being low) but I'm not even close to being any kind of expert of even a backyard mechanic when it comes to working on a vehicle....... Also, I was very lucky the shop was right on the corner where I pulled off the road....... With the way cars are these days, I would have stopped in the middle of the road if I had to......

Thanks

 

It's a closed system - so if it's low, it's because you're loosing coolant through a leak. Also, have you changed the coolant? Dex is good for 5 years, 100k miles - being a 2006 you're at 6 years already.

 

Thats what i was going to say, it would have to have gone somewhere. Check your oil and see if its the correct color but other wise yes i'd get a pressure tester to try and figure out where the coolant is going.

 

That's not what I wanted to hear....Honestly, I appreciate the answer and now I'm very concerned with it loosing coolant somewhere....... Also, I have had the car since Apr 2009 without changing the coolant, bought it with around 42-49,000 miles? And now at 68,000, so I'm guessing it has never been changed? Thanks Mike........

 

nobody else have anything?

Today, I took the turnpike and had zero issues in the AM to work, the drive home was pretty much the same, but I am smelling some coolant? I think the water-pump may be going bad.....I hope this is the best case scenario and nothing major like head gasket.....