Hopefully my fellow Kia owners are as diligent about posting as my
fellow Saturn owners. It seems like I can always find info in Google
Groups.

I have a 2003 Kia Optima, with about 68,000 miles on it. A few weeks
ago the temperature gauge started climbing up. Its the car my husband
primarliy drives, and its reached the point where he's got to have the
heater on full blast to keep the guage from getting into the red. With
the heater on it sits just under the midway mark.

I've never had a thermostat/radiator issue on a car with miles so far
below 150,000. Is this a normal occurance for an Optima? Is there
something else I should be looking at??

Any insight you can offer will be greately appreciated.

Thanks everyone!!!

Start with a fresh thermostat. The quality of them is very poor these
days. Nexy issue may be a failing head gasket. This can be checked at a
radiator shop where they can run a test to see if there are combustion
gases mixed in the coolant.

Hope the fix is the cheap one!

-SP

i.m a kia tech you have a ground wire bad most likely the ground
battery cable

On 16 Apr 2007 09:10:06 -0700, "Jackie M" <JackieRMorrow@gmail.com>

A failed cooling fan or cooling fan relay will cause the problems you
describe. Do the fans run when the temp gauge starts to climb up? Have
you checked the coolant level? Have you had the cooling system flushed
and refilled?

Chris