What's your problem? the interior guage is saying the motor is hot but there is no steam comming from under the hood at all and the coolant/water isn't so hot that you can't touch it. No interior lights come on at all saying the motor is hot either. What can cause this?

so, why do you say something is hot.???
by what measure. or way.?? (just flat say?)_
is steam shooting out of the over flow tank????
that is hot.
and did you know when that happens the water (coolant)
drops, and when it drops a tad, the gauge is now totally useless?
the guage can not measure air temps. only water, so the air pocket there makes the sensor LIE. (low)
all cars for 100 years, do this,even a tin lizzy.

First off you are going to need a engine or a full rebuild if the temp gauge redlined.. The cause could be numerous things but if it was steaming from the back of the motor then it's either heater core hose busted or blown freeze plug.

on most cars if the temp sending unit goes bad the gauge reads as if the car is running hot. check sending unit before you waste more money.

The white smoke is probably steam caused by coolant getting into the cylinder(s) either from a faulty head gasket, cracked cylinder head or cracked engine block. The loss of heat from the heater indicated that coolant was being lost..

A tank used for storing excess coolant; connected to the cooling system with a small-diameter overflow hose.

The coolant reservoir is the bottle,under the hood, that holds the radiator fluid. it is also known as a overflow bottle. When the car gets hot,the overflow bottle, releases steam to relive the pressure in the radiator. excess coolant is also stored here.




I hope this helps, Mike from fixya.

Most likely have a coolant leak somewhere. Could be the radiator, hoses, coolant reservoir, water pump. Get it resolved asap, wouldn't want to pull over to have your car rolling in it's coolant..

For 1997 Lincoln Continental 4.6L SFI DOHC 8cyl the Coolant Temperature Sensor is located: Under hood, passenger side, front upper engine area, mounted in intake manifold near water outlet.

Hope this helps (remember to rate and comment this).

if the smell only comes on when the heater is on try pulling the blower motor mice like to build nests in the blower motor housing.

My '97 CR-V would get hot enough at idle to evaporate rainwater on the hood, but I've never had steam come out from under the hood that wasn't one of these few solutions:

1. Coolant system leak in which the coolant is somehow being leaked or displaced onto a very hot engine component such as the exhaust manifold.

2. EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) system failure in which fumes (and thus 'steam' or 'steam-like' discharge) are being introduced under the hood.

3. Exhaust leak near the engine.

4. Some (all?) vehicles cycle the A/C compressor whilst the selctor is in the DEFROST position. Is it possible that some condesate from the evaporator is spilling onto hot underhood engine parts?

5. Failure of supply hose to windwhield washer jets, usually caused by alcohol drying out the hose. Then, the washer fluid leaks on the hot engine, causing steam.

Check closely under there, I bet you find the problem.

On my Mits half way on the temp gauge is perfect. Only goes higher if overheating.

You may want to check your thermostat for sticking. After warm up use a rag and grasp the upper radiator hose. You should feel the coolant moving through. If not replace thermostat.

Mike