Engine Temperature Issue- '87 325is

[Beaums]

I had an odd problem yesterday that I've never had before. I was hoping somebody here might have an idea as to what happened.

The engine was heating up at stoplights, not to overheating, one line past halfway. Ambient was ~40F. The needle seemed to fluctuate as it was moving up. Oil temps stayed under 210. The car usually runs just under halfway.

I stopped for 30min and when I restarted the problem was gone. I have not done any recent cooling system work or engine work.

Thanks for any help, John

[Jeron]

There are lots of good discussions in this forum on this topic.

air in the cooling system
bad mechanical fan or fan clutch
maybe the thermostat

Did it cool down to the correct position when you were underway?

[Beaums]

It cooled to normal while moving. I replaced the thermo a few years back, did a coolant flush/change 1.5yrs ago, I haven't done a fan clutch check yet( it is on the list).

What I found odd about the situation was that it rectified itself when I restarted the car 30 minutes after having the problem. On a trip this weekend of about 400 miles with both city and highway driving, the problem never repeated.

Could air in the system work itself out without bleeding?

Thanks for the response, John

[bimmbo]

I have issues like this but it is not a gradual increase. My temperature gauge jumps up to the limit and back to the middle. It only occurs when the car is cold. Usually less than 45F. After a while, the pin stabilizes to center. After reading others responses it seems that the capacitors in my instrument cluster may be affected by the cold and causing the tweaked out behavior. A 10 dollar soldering fix but haven't had time to attend to it.