Thanks in advanced for any responses. I have an issue that seems to be a common overheating issue, only mine manifest itself a bit differently. I can drive for about a half hour and the car will stay at the same temp. However after that period I will overheat when I am at idle. I have recently changed the radiator and the heater hose. All other hoses are fine, water pump was replaced 2 years ago, and the t-stat was done last year as well. I am losing fluid somewhere, as I have to top off the radiator every few days, about a quarter to a half a gallon. I have not been able to see where this fluid is disappearing to. I don't have any signs of fluid lose when I run it in the driveway, or when park after a drive. Does anyone know what my problem may be?

I do need to replace my belts as power fluid is being leaked (next project) onto the belts. Could this make the water pump not operated as well at idle? I did not change the radiator cap with the radiator change as it was from last year. This is also my second radiator in a year. The first had blown out on the transmission coolant side.

Fans are working, and will stay on while the car is off after a long trip, but anything under a half or or so the fans will not come on when the car is shut off.
Sorry if this is incomplete, let me know if you need more information. Thanks!

 

The power steering belt shouldn't cause the water pump to run poorly.

Your car is leaking coolant somewhere or burning it. If it was burning it, you would have white smoke coming out of the exhaust.

Try to find the source of the leak. Rev the car in the driveway and see if you can locate coolant dripping.

 

My belts are really gunked up with a greasy build up, I wasn't sure if maybe they don't get enough grip or if they could slip.

No white smoke, i was afraid that I had a blown head, but no signs of it.

I just checked my heater and I am getting zero hot air. I don;t know if this matters at all?

 

4-cyl engine? There was a 95 V-6 which may as well be a different car cause there so many things that are very different.

Waterpump is driven by the toothed timing belt, inside the timing cover, so leaking power steering fluid isn't gonna make that slip.

When idling, how high does the temperature gauge go? It's normal for that to go a bit above 1/2-scale, before the fans run.

On a 4-cyl engine, follow the lower radiator hose back to the thermostat housing. There's a 2-wire sensor; that's the fan switch that operates while the engine is running. Unplug that & jumper the wire with a paperclip. Key on, does that make both fans run?