Got A/C Charged, now car intermittently overheats :(

Are your radiator fans running?

Yup

Sound,s like it could be water pump,going bad,but if it has ran hot in the past,may want to all so check your intake gasket,and or head gasket,could have blowed one of them due to running hot,

Did all that too. Nope . . it's odd that after I charged A/C it does this. Now my A/C does not cool. Everyone thinks radiator since it is 13 years old, but I'm tired of paying money for guessing . .:(

The Air Conditioner places extra heat on the cooling system. When the car runs hot, the A/C can't work correctly. The High Pressure Safety Valve for the A/C unit might even pop off and vent some Freon to the atmosphere. What we found was leaves and trash in the bottom one third of the radiator. Since the A/C Condenser and Transmission Cooler make up the front part of the radiator assembly. And the Water part of the radiator for the engine is the back half (( closest to the engine )) .... Trash, Gunk and Leaves had accumulated between the two parts. The bottom one third of the radiator was so clogged that no air could pass through the cooling fins. We hope this has been helpful......

Hi everybody. Well, my mechanic said my compressor is not keeping charge and that the fan was not working properly. He changed the fan, but for "me" as I know my car sorta, I notice that "now" the temp gauge needle would stay flat in the middle whereas before all this headache, when I had AC, the gauge was "always" between the middle and the lower mark. I do have 185K miles on it. Today, again, it overheated - with no AC. I haven't noticed any oil leaks anywhere around my engine, no radiator fluid leak and I'm about ready to shoot the car. I'm afraid if I take it to another mechanic or dealer they may play me stupid. LOL. I noticed however, that once a week I would have to top off the radiator fluid after I got it flushed about or so months. How can I find out FOR SURE what it is - after having fan checked and if it is not the fan? I'm just frustrated and thank you for your opinions. Also, the check engine light came on, but once the car cooled, is off, and it was doing this when the guys first said could not find problem, then said fan not working right as they banged it to work, or whatever. LOL

If you are still loosing water,from radiator,do a pressure check on the water /cooling system,it would find the leak.

Thanks! I forgot about the pressure test. All I know is nothing leaks out or under, oil seems ok, I have to add anti-freeze, and my mechanic says the Prestone 50.50 is OK as the recommended Xerex I normally use. This did not start until he charged my AC. As soon as I picked it up, it would drive vibrating with AC on ad cooled for like a week. I complained about that and they did something to calm the vibrating but then the AC stopped cooling altogether. He charged it up again, and sure enough like days later over heat and AC not worked again. I did thermostat and housing as they showed me that was leaking, flushed radiator and my car to me still ran a bit warmer than its normal even with AC off. Then it started the mystery over heat again and sometimes hesitates to start. I took a pic and do not know if this means there is an engine problem so some type of oil leak or something?? My daughter also showed me where we put the gas in, seems for some reason after she filled it up, like some gas poured out even thought the gas cap she said was on right and we never top it off at full up (I think maybe the cap was not placed on correctly?) . .I appreciate ANY thoughts.

P.S. also around that side of the photo above, there is an annoying rattle like sound coming from that area. When I either have my foot on the brake or it is in drive it rattles oogley, but when I step on the gas it calms down. I had a radiator leak, trans leak, oil leak, all sensor type stuff and a front end work done and ever since I got it from the shop, over heat headaches and a maraca sounding car! About every weeks I have to put oil in just to top it off because I am picky like that, and all mechanics say I do not have watery oil, etc. Help!

Here a photo of the top of the engine. Normally I keep it clean. Now I don't know if I should worry.

NaoV, did you ever figure out what was causing the overheating? Sounds a lot like the same type of problem I'm having with mine. Just had timing belt/water pump replaced and they had to recharge AC after all that was done.

That time I needed head job - was cracked. Another time was computer itself. Hope this helps. Also, make sure your fan is coming on right.