sleeping stallion

ok i no this is a mustang thread but this is actually for my daily driver which happens to be a oldsmobile alero 01 i no ppl might say go to a gm site but hey i think all over heating symptoms might be the same.
ok so here is the thing in traffic and in town the car starts to over het justa lil but in the freeway or anywhere where im just gas all the way its perfectly ok. i no there might be like 5 things it can be but what do u guys think and from experience what is it. thanks

sprostang

Your fan working?
You have enough coolant?
I would check those 2 things first.

sleeping stallion

yea i have enought coolant and last time i check my fan was working would the thermo stat haveanything to do with it

HMUSN

its probably over heating a little because when your in town in traffic there is no air getting pushed into your engine area to cool it down.

sleeping stallion

well yea that could be it but why does it do that then

sprostang

Highly doubt it`s the stat. If it was stuck closed you would overheat badreally guick.

bb 460

Either rad's dirty or fan's crapping out. It's obvious that there's not enough airflowthrough rad at slow speeds cause when you speed up it cools down.

sleeping stallion

so what should i do clean the rad or what

97targa

NO NO NO.... All of these replies and no one points out or realizes you have a GM which are notorious for bad waterpumps! They are expensive and really hard to change if you have the 4 cylinder! The 6cylinders aren' that bad. I would say it's most likely your waterpump. Are you losing any coolant? Do you see any fluids under the car, because the seals tend to let go when the bearings do and will dribble coolant outta the **** hole! Maybe not with the newer ones, but I def. Think you have a waterpump prob. I would change your thermostat which I think you have to change the whole housing (lovely GM design) and then if not I would reccomend a new pump!