HELP!!!! Sometimes overheating....

[97LaserRed]

OK sometimes my car will over heat driving normal and after beating on it. really depends on the temp outside...(i think) not exactly sure what it could be.. looking for some help or ideas on what to check because I DONT WANT TO THROW PARTS AT IT. Here is what I know.

The fan is working. If i were to just turn the car on with a/c on the fan will turn on. So that means the CCRM is working right? the heat and a/c in the cabin are perfect. I have the fan temps to come on at 180* low speed 200*high speed.

The coolant level is full. no air pockets. Ive check numerous times. Now I did put a new coolant res cap on it (pepboys) because I heard the Ford cap leaking one day when I turned the car off. I could hear a very slight hiss from the cap. maybe the pepboys cap is garbage.

Now yesterday when I got home I checked under the hood and noticed coolant around my pepboys cap.

Now one reason it could be heating up is because i have a big ass space heater that puts out 80 million BTU's in between the motor and fan!!!! but I wouldn't think it would affect it that much?????

It has a cobra radiator and all the cobra cooling elements. Now should I put a 160* t-stat in it?, Turbo blanket?, bigger rad?, new cap? like I said I dont want to throw parts at it so help me diag it so I know what to do.

Thanks!



My temps usually would stay about the "O" on the "NORMAL" but lately they would go to about the "M-A"