car question: any mechanics help me out

[IlliniLou]

alright i drive a 2000 Alero and has like 125K miles on it. mostly highway miles from driving to school. on a recent trip back home my car started overheating and i pulled over right before the needle got to the red line. it turns out i had to get a new water pump.
alright im making a long distance trip this weekend and ive kept an eye on the temp. ever since it happened. the needle is always at the half way point but sometimes it'll move higher, at what point should i really be worried about whether or not these people fixed my car for good? i really dont trust the people who worked on the car because i never actually got to talk to the people who worked on it. (it was taken to a dealership because the car is an Olds).
this is an important trip so i dont really wanna be stuck on the highwayand get the trip ruined.
As you can tell i dont know anything about cars so any help would be appreciated.

[goodsamaritan]

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alright i drive a 2000 Alero and has like 125K miles on it. mostly highway miles from driving to school. on a recent trip back home my car started overheating and i pulled over right before the needle got to the red line. it turns out i had to get a new water pump.
alright im making a long distance trip this weekend and ive kept an eye on the temp. ever since it happened. the needle is always at the half way point but sometimes it'll move higher, at what point should i really be worried about whether or not these people fixed my car for good? i really dont trust the people who worked on the car because i never actually got to talk to the people who worked on it. (it was taken to a dealership because the car is an Olds).
this is an important trip so i dont really wanna be stuck on the highwayand get the trip ruined.
As you can tell i dont know anything about cars so any help would be appreciated.

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The halfway point is where the needle should be. Its not uncommon for a car that old to overheat slightly, especially in the summer. If the needle starts to approach the red zone, roll the windows down and turn on the heat.

[Brainwalter]

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(it was taken to a dealership because the car is an Olds).

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Huh?

Anyway, goodsamaritanisright. Did they replace the thermostat? I don't trust mechanics at all but it's not likely they could mess this one up. Does the temperature guage have numbers or just LOW---HIGH? If it has numbers, I'd say anywhere in the 150-170 range (F) is completely normal.

[IlliniLou]

this was the only place that would work on an Oldsmobile in the area. I dont know why thats the case but it was. they also replaced the thermostat, it doesnt have numbers, just a C for cold, an H for Hot and the red zone and the halfway line.
If it starts to get too hot for comfort i'll do what goodsamaritan said, thanks for the advice

[n.s.]

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If it starts to get too hot for comfort i'll do what goodsamaritan said, thanks for the advice

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goodsamaritan's advice (rolling down the windows and cranking the heat) isn't really going to help much, especially not if the water pump fails again. The cooling effect of the cabin heater core is going to be very minor compared to the main radiator, and if your water pump goes out again, then neither system is going to cool the engine at all.

If you see the needle get close to the red zone (especially if it jumps up suddenly), your best bet is to pull over and shut the engine off immediately - otherwise you risk cracking the engine block or borking your head gasket, and those are very costly repairs.

[z28dreams]

Lou-

If the water pump has been replaced you should probably be fine. Make sure the coolant is topped off.

Also, make sure that your fan is kicking in. Typically what will happen is while you sit in traffic the engine slowly heats up, so the fan will kick on to bring down the temp. It then shuts off and repeats this process.

As someone else suggested - replace the thermostat if you haven't done so yet. It's about a $5 part that you should be able to replace yourself.

As for as mechanics not being able to service the car... WTF? The olds alero has either the 3.4 engine, which is shared with several other GM cars (pontiac grand am), or the 2.4L ecotec, which is also a super common engine. (cavalier,cobalt,etc). Any competent mechanic should be able to work on this car.

[big D]

OK, I completely disagree that its normal for the car to overheat slightly if the coolant system is working properly. Unless you're driving up long very steep stretches, or towing uphill, your needle should not be fluctuating above the half way point. A year 2000 vehicle is not old, and any car that age should warm up until the needle his the half way point then be nearly rock steady.

As others have already said, check your coolant level. Also, check if there are any wet spots in the engine compartment, especially around the water pump to see if you are loosing even small amounts of coolant. If you see the temp rise above the half way point, pull over and see if the pump sounds like its running right or if its making a grinding noise, or if you see steam in the engine compartment.

I would take the car back to the shop and tell them they didn't fix it right.

[holland3r]

It shouldn't be overheating at all if it's working properly. If they replaced the water pump they should have flushed the coolant and bled any air out of the system. If they took a shortcut on the repair, this would be the likely place.

Also, there are probably several seals that should have been replaced when they did the water pump, but I can't speak to this since I don't know anything about Olds.

[IlliniLou]

well now im gettin a lil worried. im gonna top it off with coolant before we leave and if it gets 75% of the way to the red i'll just pull over and see whats goin on.
i was driving around campus today and it got to the halfway point almost right away and then stopped for awhile and after like 15 minutes of driving i can tell it started to creep higher a tiny bit, i threw on the heat and it lowered back to the halfway point.
thanks for all the advice tho, i appreciate it

[z28dreams]

How much past the half way point is it getting?

I wouldn't even think twice about 60-65%, but around the 75% mark I would be concerned.