"Normal" overheating?

[Nomake Wan]

And an update.

Being a perfectionist, I won't be satisfied until I flog the thing and it doesn't overheat. And the one thing that would put the most strain on the engine would be going up a high grade in a low gear for ~10 minutes. So I took the SVX to a road like that nearby and went for it.

Ran great, until about halfway up. Then the temps started climbing again, a little more than halfway between 50% and redzone. So I pulled off to the side, let it run, and popped the hood. With the cell phone I could tell that there was again coolant on the driver's side fender, so I took out my digital camera and just snapped as many photos as I could of the entire engine bay. Here you go, photo evidence.















After taking the pictures, I closed the hood, turned back around, and literally coasted the entire way down the hill, without touching the gas once. Temps held at about 55%. But as soon as the grade ended and I had to accelerate from a stop, the temps rose steadily again with even the lightest of throttle application. I was struggling to keep up with traffic (as I didn't want to overheat, yet the limit was 45 and I was doing about 30)... and then suddenly everything went back to normal. No warning, nothing. Just bam, temp gauge back in operating range, and no problems. The entire drive home on the freeway was uneventful and the gauge never moved.

Grr.