alright to begin with i have a 160* thermostat and my car has 115,000 miles on it. i have flushed and changed coolant about 3-4 years ago and everything has worked fine since. the temp now is raising to about the quarter mark and halfway mark very rapidly but will not get much hotter than that. this happens abnormally, usually it gets hot when car is sitting in traffic, but now it gets hot driving through my neihborhood at about 30 mph. i think it is a sticking thermostat, if so then would i be able to pull it out and clean it or just get a new one. thanks for the help

 

you would probably be better off buying a new one. cleaning it and stuff mught affect or something so just trying buying a new one. hope it helps.

 

What year?

 

96 3.8L

 

I'd first check the fliud in the overflow and radiator. If antifreeze level is low, the sensors will show the car running hot. Then... I'd check the water pump.

I had the same problem with my '96 RS. The thing started running hot, so I checked the fluids and noticed I was half a gallon low??? Topped it off and things were fine. I started hunting for "a bigger" problem. Didn't notice any puddles.... what could it be? I had a leak in the weep hole of the water pump, just enough it lose the mix, but not enough to make a puddle. Go figure!

If that doesn't turn something up, then I'd go to the stat.