hi guys i recently brought a 1994 jeep cherokee that had a few problems when i brought it..
it runs a dream except i found out that at idle , the temp gauge rises over half ..now the strange thing is it dosent do it all the time.its not overheating but just sits at the white line before the danger red zone at worst,but drops once im back driving as usual. so what ive done so far is changed the thermostat and the housing .brand new radiator and new coolant right thru..it still does it just not as bad..now ive been looking at the water pump and im pretty sure its ok but cant rule it out..it dosent use any water or oil either..my guess..(and its just a guess) is that it may be a faulty sensor thats playing around??? i dont want to change the water temp just yet incase its somethiing as stupid as changing the temp sensor sender for instance..
now i no this topic has probaly been discussed but new to here and just wanting a bit of direct help..
cheers

 

is your electric fan kicking on? Sounds like it's reading right because it cools down once you start going down the road and get air moving through that radiator.

 

yea mate its kicking in but not till after its well over half way..but like i said its not hiting the red zone.
also i noticed today that when i put the heaters on hot ,its not blowing overly hot air out more like warmish...will be picking up a new temp sensor tommrw but have a feeling that ill be still scratching my head.......

 

if it's not blowing out hot air when the temps are up like that, you have a clog in your coolant system somewhere or your pump isn't moving as much coolant as it should be.

 

are there anyways to diagnose a faulty water pump at all??

 

yeah, feel your hoses with the engine running and up to full operating temp. If the out from your water hose has no pressure to it, it's probably the pump. if it's solid as a rock and feels like it may pop, it's a clog somewhere.