Ok so this weekend I took a road trip. Half way there my waterpump had a catastrophic failure, the pump and belt were changed(luckily a shop was close) and the system was burped. Now when I'm cruising my temp is normal(between the 1/4-1/2 mark) but when I stop at a stop light it goes up to the 1/2 mark, when I take off it'll drop all the way down to the 1/4 then back up to normal when cruising again. Anyone got any idea's? I'm also considering doing an electric fan swap but dont know where to begin, I'm sure just tossing any fan on it wont help anything

 

I'd double check to see that all of the air was evacuated from the cooling system. If this temp condition never happened before the pump failure, air in the system would be my first guess.

 

Ours has never ran between the 1/4 and 1/2 mark. It is always between the 1/2 and 3/4 mark. Never had a problem and I've read that's where they run normally at.

 

See mines always been between the 1/4 and 1/2 mark. And I was thinking there might be another air pocket but every time I've opened the cap it's full, any tricks on purging the air out?

 

What are the chances that nothing was hurt internally, it got hot but I shut it down right away, and it hasnt been acting weird or anything?

 

How hot did it get?

 

To the beginning of the red, then it was shut down, seems fine it completed the 700mile trip without fault after the new pump and belt

 

sounds like air trapped in the flow

 

Get or borrow a Scan Gauge II or similar OBD II reader so you can see what the actual temp IS while it is doing what you described. The stock temp gauge is basically an idiot light with a needle, it is basically telling you the temp is changing, but you have no idea how much.

15-18 degree F temp swings are no big deal depending on weather conditions.

 

It's chilly here and I'd say its a 10-15 degree flux