When driving to work today I noticed when coming to a stop my idling was very low and almost came to a stop then rose again, right after that my temp gauge went way up and started to fluctuate, when I come to a stop the temp rises and lowers a bit when I start to move, the idle is fluctuating also but not very much. I parked it and looked under the hood and could not see any coolant leaking but there was a boiling, gurgling noise coming from the coolant reservoir and could also hear slight gurgling coming from near the engine block. The only work done recently wa replacement of the cat convertor and the top hose coming from the radiator was replaced because of a hole a couple of weeks ago, does anyone have an idea what might be causing this?

Thanks for any help.

 

You may have more that one thing going on.
I would call Biggs Eastside Automotive LLC
at 12700 Bel-Red Road Bellevue Wa 98005
425-688-0080
They come highly recommend.

 

Check coolant. Could still have air in the system from the hose change, which may take a bit to work out.
Next time it's cool, try to run it with the cap off (may take a while) and see if you get any air bubbles up and out reservoir. Since the air compresses you have give it a way out since the system is "sealed". My money says the gurgling sound you heard was cavitation (a fancy word for boiling the coolant to the steaming point where it can do nasty/noisy stuff).

 

Did you get things taken care of ?
If so let everyone know it may help someone else
down the road.
Thanks Mike

 

Thanks for the replies, I did take it to Biggs, I have been taking it there for a couple of years now, they did a pressure check and found nothing abnormal, told me to drive it normally and see if it overheats again, that was about 3 weeks ago and I have not had any problems since, the only thing I still notice is the bubbling sound coming from the reserve after driving for a while. I did not bleed the system when I changed the top hose, is this something quick and easy to do? I am not very mechanically inclined and any instructions on this would be helpful, sorry it took so long to reply. Thanks.

 

When the truck is cold, on level ground.
Look on the radiator on top next to the battery you will see a plug
it could be black plastic or brass.
Take the radiator cap off, (you may need to have some antifreeze on hand)
then take the plug out until antifreeze comes out, if nothing comes out add
a little antifreeze until it does and put the plug in.
Now look in side of the radiator jug that the cap is on, you will see a little
plastic part that looks like a + on top sticking up.
Fill the antifreeze up to the top of that no more.
That is how to bleed the air out of the radiator.
When you put the plug back on the top of the radiator be easy the plastic
plug can strip out if you over tighten it.

 

One other thing, get a new radiator cap.
It may not be holding the presser it needs to and
for a few bucks peace of mind.