Ok here it is, my 96 3.8 started making a whining noise a week or two ago... it would only do it when the car is cold tho. so anyway i pin pointed the noise to my water pump and quickly realized it needed to be replaced when white smoke was coming from my hood and coolant was leaking out of the little hole that they put to tell you its going bad... so anyway finally one day last week it basically went out and my car started to overheat very quickly... pulled over let it cool and got it home without getting it to hot...so i drain my coolant and replace the water pump and then refill and burp my radiator but it still is randomly overheating then dropping and i noticed that my fans were not kicking on when it got up to temp . i do have a SLP manual fan switch but that isnt supposed to affect it and i do not get heat when the temp is up so there isnt anything getting to my heating coil so could there be an air lock? or could it be my thermostat? i definetly could use a flush but i cant understand how that would effect it now and never before? hope i have been informative enough!!! thank you so much for any help

 

sounds like a thermostat

 

Word.

 

Yea, install the Prestone Flush Kit, do a super flush, replace the thermostat -- not hard to do and cheap.