Engine Overheating Options

[Araykhel]

I have an ST204 that just crossed over 107k miles and I'm having some overheating issues after the car has had about twenty minutes of drive on it. When my car is driving at normal speeds my indicated temperature usually sits at half, great and normal . But once I let off the gas and decelerate the temperature climbs in no time. I find that idling is the worst and my temperature sits just below the red line when I do so.

I've used the great and nifty search feature to educate myself on all the issues to check/ possible fixes however I still have some questions. The first thing I want to check/ replace is my thermostat however I tried searching for a how-to assuming it wouldn't be a simple swap and found none. Do I need to drain fluids ( ) to do so?

[kagemidnight]

I really hope for your sake it's not the case but...I bought and put in an engine last year and started having the same problem soon after. The first thing I was told to do after asking about it was let it sit idle for a while and check to make sure the radiator fans are kicking in when the temp starts to rise ( I guess you could check this also). What it ended up being was a small crack in the block( we thought it was a blown headgasket at first, until I dumped a few hundred into fixing it only to have the same problem). Basically what my mechanic told me was, when I was driving it's shooting coolant into the engine and keeping it around normal, when you idle, it stops and the temp starts to rise because it's not getting any coolant. It did this for a few days before I noticed any smoke. Once you see smoke it's definite. I had to replace it right after I tried letting it idle to check the fans because doing that allowed it to get hotter and hotter and expanded the crack. When I drove it next the temp immediately shot up and smoke billowed out. good luck man.