99 s80 overheats with AC on in traffic

jssandidge · Post by **jssandidge** » 29 Mar 2012, 14:14

The AC on my 99 s80 works great and is nice and cold, but when sitting in traffic the car begins to overheat. When the AC is turned off the temp gauge drops to the middle. When the AC is turned back on the temp gauge rises again until you start moving and it goes back to the middle. Any ideas? The radiator fans seems to be working, but could it not be spinning fast enough at idle to cool the engine?

I also recently bypassed the heater core because it was leaking and I was losing coolant. However, I have found that, even after the bypass, I am still losing coolant. There is no oil in the coolant reservoir that I can tell, so it doesn't appear to be a head gasket issue.

Not sure myself on either issue, so any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

Post by **boosted5cyl** » 29 Mar 2012, 15:03

Yeah its possible that the fan isn't spinning fast enough. Also possible that you have either an internal blockage in your radiator (lime/calciaum deposits) or the fins on the ac evaporator (in front of the radiator) are covered in crud.

How much coolant are you loosing? You might need to do a pressure test to find the source.

jssandidge · Post by **jssandidge** » 29 Mar 2012, 18:20

Usually have to add coolant just about every time I drive it. I will check the radiator, but suspect it's not that considering I just replaced it in the fall. Thanks for the response.