Car overheating in Neutral

If your radiator is plugged up you wouldn't be getting enough coolant movement at idle. Water pump failing could also not circulate enough coolant at idle. Higher RPMs allow enough movement to cool the engine.

At idle are you getting heat from your HVAC?

Could his fan clutch be going out too? What was the outside temp when this started happening and do you hear a roar from the engine fan? Before you start throwing money at it, get an obd scanner to verify the engine temps. It shouldn't get above 210F.

lrscott said:

Could his fan clutch be going out too? What was the outside temp when this started happening and do you hear a roar from the engine fan? Before you start throwing money at it, get an obd scanner to verify the engine temps. It shouldn't get above 210F.

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Outside temp about 52 degrees according to the Rover. I will have to pay attention to the roar part.

rrtoadhall said:

If your radiator is plugged up you wouldn't be getting enough coolant movement at idle. Water pump failing could also not circulate enough coolant at idle. Higher RPMs allow enough movement to cool the engine.

At idle are you getting heat from your HVAC?

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I was in neutral for just a few minutes before the needle started to creep to the red. I turned up the climate temperature to HI just in case as I was driving back home.

Even though I do think you have a problem with the engine cooling system that needs to be taken seriously. It would be wise to verify that the temp gauge isn't acting up, mine likes to say I'm running hot even though thats not the case at all. The OBD scanner with live data feeds will verify the engine coolant temp, like I said, it shouldn't get above 210.

I would follow what others have already said here. On top of that, why don't you bleed the cooling system while at it? If you do, be sure to burp the system of air, and wait till the thermostat opens up the system, so you can top up the cooling system. The step by step procedure can be found in RAVE.

I personally use the Prestone Dex-cool 50/50 premix. If you have filled the system before by yourself, and used non-premixed type, hope you didn't put in mountain spring water or some other mineral "drinking water." That stuff can do horrible stuff to your cooling system. You must use distilled water.

Having said all this, taking your car to a car wash can do weird things to your car. I've previously gotten gearbox fault, right after the carwash. I still don't know whether it was the attendant playing w/ the HI/Lo gear, or water spray messing up something. Oh yeah, I've gotten the rear lamp guard broken too, but I suppose that's whole another story.....

I topped off my coolant take with the Prestone extended life all makes all models in the yellow bottle with yellow coolant. The bottle said it is safe for aluminum engines....we'll see.

I drove 50 miles on the highway and the temperature gauge stayed in the middle. I needed to pick something up so I didn't want to put it into neutral and test the patient of the truck.