[davew833]

Sounds like what my '92 pearl was doing last summer when I got it: Bouncy temp gauge, A/C cutting out, eventually overheating. I also had bubbling and oily residue in the overflow tank. I tried all of the little things first, like changing the thermostat, flushing/refilling the coolant, bypassing the heater core and the internal trans cooler- all with no effect. It got worse to the point where I was losing coolant. My winter project was changing both head gaskets with the engine in the car (it CAN be done!) and that seems to have solved the problem. The good news is that even with 164k miles, the change of head gaskets didn't seem to increase oil consumption like most of the mechanics I talked to said would happen.