Cooling system flow?

[cavell]

My torrent has odd cooling system performance.
i can drive nonstop and heat is fine.
if I stop the hot vents soon go cool.
if I drive with ac in summer and stop, the temp gauge starts to rise.
i have never seen it overheat While moving 10mph and above
raising idle to 1200 rpm or higher makes temp gauge drop.
can a blocked radiator have any effect on heating issue?
do I have a clogged radiator issue?
my temps rise using ac when stopped and heat goes away when stopped. How are they linked? Heat and ac?

 

[ralexand88]

The car is notorious for head gasket and intake manifold gaskets. I would suggest fixing the later but they both take a good deal of work to tear the engine down to the level needed.

 

[gkala]

I had these same symptoms on my 2008 with the 3.4. Ended up being the head gaskets. Do a combustion leak test. Very simple to do and will tell you for sure if you have a head gasket leak. Don't wait for it to get worse, because it will.

 

[cavell]

Flushed cooling system. Seems stable now. Then last week temp gauge said cool but scan tool said it was normal. Next day temp gauge said ok. I’ve been driving it a bit but not daily and it seems ok. But, I have water in system. No antifreeze. I think heat is ok at idle. Hard to check with 70 deg temps. Maybe I can use ac a bit and see how it does at drive thru. What a fair price for it? I want it gone. 160k miles. So so tires. No damage.