Anyone ever heard of this? I just changed my very dirty fuel filter to solve a high RPM hesitation in 3rd gear or higher (which worked just fine) and now, it seems my car runs MUCH hotter. Coincidence? I would imagine as I didn't do anything else.... haven't changed any other part of the engine or anything else... haven't changed my route to/from work... doesn't matter if the A/C is on or not... But what it shows is typically, the temp guage used to not go above about 1/3rd from 0. Now it can get up to 3/4ths the way to the overheating end of the guage. Any ideas as to why (other than coincidence) it would do this just by changing the fuel filter? And it wasn't just a few days later either... it was the very next morning!!

Thanks in advance!

-Jeff

 

Well first of all I suggest you stop driving the car until the overheating issue is resolved. You are risking irreparable damage to your engine.

 

It's not necessarily "overheating" unless that's the range that's considered as such, but it does get a lot hotter than before. There's no signs of any problems other than the guage.

 

3/4ths of the guage would be very close to overheating. I wouldn't risk it. But it's your engine.

 

did u put the fuel filter the correct way? It usually has an arrow on it to show which way the fuel is supposed to flow.

If it's not that, I highly doubt it's even fuel filter related. Check ur Coolant level, also check for leaks. If u have an e-fan, check if it's functioning properly.

 

Good ideas/suggestions.... to answer your questions, yeah, the fuel filter was installed right (with the arrow going the right way) Coolant is filled to the top and there are no leaks, and unfortunately no, I don't have an e-fan... HOWEVER.... I think my fan clutch is messed up because the fan is on all the friggin' time! It's on from the time the car is first started all the way until I get to my destination (including driving 40 miles ONE WAY to work or back home from...)

E-fan is on my list of things to change though...

 

well that should keep yor engine cooler, unless your fan clutch is ******* up. How fast is the fan going?

 

with the engine warmed up, try to stop the fan with the end of a rag. If you can, fan clutch needs to be replaced. Another test/symptom of bad fan clutch: car tends to run hotter at lower speed (30 mph and below) but temp is normal at higher speeds.