I have a 02 chevy z-28 with 40,000 miles that I love to death. Today something happen to it. It all of a sudden started overheating from 210 degrees then to the red. I continued to drive and all of a sudden the needle went right back to the temp it was supposed to be within a matter of a second. It was kind of like it was a glitch. But then about 20 minutes later is did the exact same thing again. i checked the engine while it was in the red and it was not hot at all. I could even touch the engine block without burning myself. i drove it tonight and it still kept doing the same thing. Does anyone know what could be causing this. It will be in the red for about 30 second then shoot right back to 210 which is where it is at normal. Even it was over heating it could cool of in a matter of a second could it? When I turn the car off the fan stays on I don't know if that is normal. The car is bone stock (nothing at all on it). Thanks for the help.

Chuck

 

check your coolant leveL, air/steam can cause the sensor to act odd

 

where is the coolant lever, this is my first chevy so i am pretty stupid when it comes to these cars

 

OPPS, I meant to type level.......

 

I had the same problem with my car, (i have a '94 with the LT1 though) the temp gauge would go up and peg then go back down to normal opperating temp a few seconds later. My car was not acting hot at all, and when I poped the hood it didn't seem hot. I just ignored it because I thought that the sensor for the gauge was bad. about a week later I blew a head gasket and cracked a head . I was told that there could have been an air pocket in the system somewhere and that was causing my temp gauge to act up, and stoped the coolant from flowing right and thats why my car got hot enough to blow a head gasket. I would definitely have it checked out ASAP.