Did you put a 180 degree thermostat in when you swapped the old one?

 

Yes, I got one

 

Before I changed it it stayed right at 3/4 all the time, but when i put the new thermostat in it dropped to 1/2

 

May have had a 194* thermostat it in from the previous owner, causing your gauge to show you that your truck was running hotter.

Mine climbs steadily in heavy traffic as well. Nothing to be too concerned about unless it gets extremely hot..

 

You're further ahead to buy a gauge by Scangauge or Ultragauge to read the water temp straight from the computer.
You are one of 4,289 people who complain about the needle. Unfortunately you haven't been around here long enough to know that finding two people with the same gauge reading uncommon. As a general rule, if you do not have a code and the gauge is stable then you have nothing to worry about. If your needle is erratic, then it's time to take action.

Your situation sounds normal to me.

 

would putting a extra cooler on the radiator help it.

 

.......But in traffic it started climbing back up.......

Could be a bad/weak fan clutch, if it's a belt driven fan, or a bad electric rad fan. Most any motor will run somewhat hotter at slow speed (lower air flow thru the rad) especially in summer driving conditions however, if the gauge is going to 3/4, the cooling system may need some additional maintenance.

 

x2 on that, could also be a bad coolant mix. Remember since you live down south you can run more water than coolant which will help it cool better.

 

Thanks for the tip, is it hard to change

 

Something else you need to consider is our temp gauges are far from accurate. You really need to get a scangauge or an Ultragauge that will show you exactly what the temp is.

 

i am going to check the clutch to see if there is any oil leaks, or if the fan wobbles. Also going to check to see the fan speed increases if someone refs it up. also will check what you said too. thanks all for being so helpful. Is the chevy colorado a really good truck, i know i had some issues with Nissan.

 

You're going to have problems with most any vehicle. Anything that's man made is prone to problems. I don't know much about the Frontiers, but my wife has a 2008 Sentra that we haven't turned a screw on since we've had it.

The Colorado/Canyon's are good little trucks, some of them just have problems. One of the biggest being an issue with the valve seats and the head. Only a few of these problem trucks exist, and Chevrolet seems to be making good on the issue by offering a 100,000 mile/ 7 year warranty on that. The other biggest issue I would say is either the BCM (Body Control Module) acting up sometimes and the PassLock preventing the truck from starting. PassLock can be disabled with a PCM tune, and BCM's aren't really that expensive if yours does happen to act up. If your door locks stop working, wipers stop working, gauges stop working, etc, your BCM is beating off.

You'll find just about anything you need to know right here on this forum. There's lots of smart guys here who know these trucks inside and out, probably better than GM does. You're in the right place, brother!

 

Again, don't necessarily believe your gauge. Does it go to 3/4 and stay there, or does it maintain a cooler appearance on the gauge then creep up with traffic. Mine stays 188-192 (Ultragauge) then when it's HOT or A/C is on or I'm in traffic it can reach in excess of 210. Normal......these are not the most stable cooling systems.

A secondary radiator in front of the first COULD help, but that's just a bandaid to a problem, if there is indeed a problem. But before that I would expect the 'new' radiator placed in front of the stocker to actually restrict airflow.

Please take note of your gauge position to verify the temperature is stable until you put excessive load on the system. Then when it moves higher, also make sure it doesn't not continually creep up. It should creep some, then stabilize again. And cool down when you begin to move allowing airflow.

Trust me, I know what you're feeling. I purchased the Ultrage for the simple fact that I was dissatisfied with my dash gauge moving around to 'the scary zone'.

 

my truck just hit 100,000 i wonder if i would be covered for the valve seats and the head recall, i bought it 98,0000 miles.:wtf2:

 

Probably not. The extended warranty follows the truck no matter who the owner is, but from what I've heard once you hit 100,000 or 7 years from the date the truck was put into service, they're really strict on honoring it.

Your truck may also have already had the repair done. With 100,000 on it, there's a fair chance. I would get your VIN and call up a dealer and ask them to give you all of the truck's history. You need to do this anyway to make sure all of the other recalls have been taken care of too.

 

You can check your clutch fan pretty easy just by trying to spin it with the engine off. It should spin fairly freely if the engine is cool. The heat from the radiator is what causes the clutch to tighten up in it and cause it to engage. The fan is designed to pull the most air when sitting idle in traffic or something. When you're moving up the highway, air flows freely through the radiator without the need of the fan anyway.

So technically, while driving your temps should be cooler than while sitting in traffic. Mine fluctuate quite a bit actually, especially if I pass someone or pull a hill. When my truck drops out of OD, and the RPMS pick up, my temp gauge actually goes down. I guess that's due to a product of the fan speeding up or more coolant being pumped through the block/radiator by increased water pump speeds.

 

I went to the dealer my truck is not on the recall for the valve seats and the head recall, so happy, they ran the vin. but I still checking everything on the cooling issue, Thanks

 

The head/valve seats isn't a recall. There's a TSB for it, and GM is extending the warranty to cover it. If it was a recall it would be repaired regardless of age/milage.

There are other actual recalls though, like the brake light switch.

Also, if your floorboard starts getting wet after it rains, it's likely your third brake light leaking. Almost everyone here has had that problem at some point, so don't freak out when it happens. Now you know where the water came from.