00 LS V-6 Starting to run hot at highway speeds

Bubba 14

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My 00 LS V-6 has just started to run hotter than normal when at highway speeds (60+ mph). It goes to midpoint between normal and hot. Then when I come to a stop it cools down to normal. no coolant leakage, cooling fan does come on. Replaced a funky looking degas bottle cap with a Motorcraft one today. Will test it tomorrow. Anyone else experience this condition? Possible causes/solutions?
 
Yes, I believe the degas bottle cap could be loose. check that your fan speeds up and does not stay at a low speed all the time. The cooling fan pump actuator is suspect. otherwise a leak you have not found or air in the system. On my 01V6 it was the degas bottle cracking, water hose plastics cracking, radiator cracking at upper port, and actuator.
 
... The cooling fan pump actuator is suspect. ...

Normally, I would agree, but he says at speeds over 60MPH. The fan is not a factor at that speed (the 2nd gen electric fan is turned off completely at speed). On the other hand if he was only having overheating at < 40 MPH...
 
I'd just suggest that the radiator has seen better days. The heat dissipation fins get corroded and can't transfer enough heat away when the engine is working harder. Just went through this on a 4 year old radiator on a Subaru. The fins were crusty and you could close them off by folding them across each other by just running the back of your fingernail across them. Car ran pisser at under 40 mph but as soon as you add boost or just run it at 50 plus and that needle would creep right to that same area. So that's the good news, it could just be your radiator. The bad news is, they are a pain to replace, thanks to the hydraulic lines that service the fan.
 
Replaced the Degas bottle cap with a Motorcraft one from the Ford dealer. Inspected the radiator- found no issues. Took out for a freeway run and issue appears to be fixed. Will do a 55 mile freeway run to Yuma in the near future to verify. This LS is one that has only 80K miles on it and has been in Socal for most of it's life and out here in the desert we don't have too much of a corrosion problem. Bought the LS 3 months ago- it has been well maintained.
 
This LS is one that has only 80K miles on it and has been in Socal for most of it's life and out here in the desert we don't have too much of a corrosion problem.

My 00 LS V-6 has just started to run hotter than normal

To reverse a popular quote:

" It's not the milage... but the age. "

Put a car in the desert with almost 20 year old cooling system parts... and something is bound to fail.

I doubt any of the cooling system parts have been replaced with only 80k on the odometer. Get your credit card ready for a roughly $1000 expenditure... and that's if you do it yourself.

I think I know why the seller sold it.
 
To reverse a popular quote:

" It's not the milage... but the age. "

Put a car in the desert with almost 20 year old cooling system parts... and something is bound to fail.

I doubt any of the cooling system parts have been replaced with only 80k on the odometer. Get your credit card ready for a roughly $1000 expenditure... and that's if you do it yourself.

I think I know why the seller sold it.
I know the guy that changed out my coolant system charged me $400 to do so and they said they hated me after they were done cause of how hard the radiator was to change, and not to mention the other things!
 
and they said they hated me after they were done cause of how hard the radiator was to change

LOL... It's not really that bad. It just takes a little extra removal of a few other parts... and some creative jockeying.

I can think of some worse vehicles from the 80's and 90's. One particular GM product comes to mind. The only access to the water pump was through a small hole... once you removed the right front tire. If that wasn't bad enough... the water pump was driven by the timing belt... and it was recommended to change the timing belt with the water pump.

To do that you had to support the engine well enough... to unbolt the motor mount... to get the timing belt off.

Needless to say... I don't have a very "Cavalier" attitude about working on GM products.
 

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