I have a 98' V6. I'll start it up in the morning and drive 10 min to work and the temp gauge is almost in the middle. iv drained the coolant, and flushed it and that seemed to help for about a week. when i sit at a red light the gauge rises and when i start to drive it lowers. so im thinking new thermostat and i know i need the 195 degree but do i need the hole system and where do i get the right one at?

 

The middle of the gauge is where you want to be.

 

parts store should know what thermostat is needed. you will need a gasket. check out rockauto and see what they recomend

 

I think the complaint is that it takes 10 minutes for the gauge to get to the half way mark. If you're in a cold climate like it is up here in Illnoise, and you're pretty much "jumping in and driving", then that's normal. So is the temp climbing while sitting in traffic and going back down when you start moving.

 

Gauge should be in the middle. It will raise or lower while driving depending on the fans cutting on and off and ambient temperature. Sounds to me like it is operating normally, as long as it does not get into the red. Go inside any parts store and ask for what you need for the car you drive, thats how you get the right parts.

 

Ok, best bet is go to rockauto.com and find a new thermostat and new radiator cap. I had ur issue and all was fixed after that

 

bought new 195 thermostat and radiator cap and im still having the problem. if i keep the car at 60 mph or above the temp will drop but any slower and the gauge rises

 

Do you have the air dam under the front bumper? I broke mine and the car overheated a little because air doesn't get to the radiator very well.

It looks kinda like this

 

My gauge sits in the middle too, it will rise above when stopped. This is normal. The fans will come on to cool it back down to the middle.
Check to make sure your cooling fans are operating correctly, if not you might need a new coolant temperature sensor.
If your thermostat was stuck closed it would overheat pretty quick and the temp would not drop or stay in the middle. If it were stuck open it would take forever to heat up. If it were your radiator cap not realeasing pressure, you would see a leak from the overflow. If it was realeasing pressure too quick, again there would be a leak at the radiator cap.

It sounds like your car is fine, if the temperature does go near the red zone, it's probably your radiator fans not engaging. In that case I would get a new CTS.

I had the rad cap issue, the thermostat issue and the CTS issue all in seperate instances. It should be easy enough to troubleshoot if there is any issue.

 

I am going to change my thermostat tomorrow. I think it is stuck open. It warms up when idling but gets below 160 while driving.