Overheating Chevy Pickup?

[JaneD]

My K1500 Chevy Pickup is overheating when it is idleing or just stopped and not moving. When I am doing driving in areals with a lot of stop lights my engine gets around 210 and has gotten up to 220 degrees. When I am driving on the highway it can go down all the way to 175. I am not sure if it could be the water pump or the thermastat or something else. I live in AZ and I really dont need it overheating, oh yea when i turn on my Air conditioning it over heats my engine too. If anyone has any advice on it I would greatly appreciate it.

P.S. it is a 1992 chevy K1500 pickup with a 5.7L 350 V8 engine. It is the original engine.

Thanks...

[RU4realm]

Does it red line at the temperatures you mentioned? My monte carlo has a safe operating Temperature of 226 degrees, that is when the fans come on. It is normal for a car to run hotter when setting in traffic, than on the highway. On the highway at high speeds more air is pushed through the radiator which cools it off. Do your fans come on at all? If not check the fan relays. It could actually be the relays, the fan clutch, the thermostat, or the water pump. But if it is not redlining, a car getting hotter in traffic is normal.

[MC]

are you losing any coolant. if you are i would start with the water pump.
if not your thermostat might be stuck, i would go for that next.
also your water pump has drag on it when you turn on your air. this drag may have made your pump get worse.

[CYNICALifornia]

First up overheating can and will destroy your motor.

If you are starting to overheat and cannot stop roll down the windows and crank up the heater. The heater pulls heat from the morot and will help to cool it.

If I were you I'd start with the thermastat as it is cheap and relatively easy to repair. Really though you need someone to take a look at this problem before you kill your poor truck. (this I know from experiance)

[Julio]

sounds like your fan clutch,or thermostat

[CArl]

First of all,, check the fluid..

It sounds like the fan is not coming on.. That could be a relay switch,, or a fuse,, or the fan motor its-self..

Let the truck idle.. Open the hood & watch for the fan to come on.. Let it heat up,, the fan should come on.. If the fan does not come on,, there is your problem.. If it does,, it has to be something else like the pump,, or the thermostat..

The thermostat is cheep and easy to replace..