2002 Chevy Cavalier

[quote:5c3331f30d="shep2735"]I have 2002 chevy cavalier...i was stuck in traffic for a while a noticed the temperature gauge approching the red zone. The check gauges light came on. I turned on my heater and the temp gauge began to go down to normal operation and was fine thereafter. Any ideas what might have caused this situation ar what I can troubleshoot. The fluid level is up inthe reserve tank.[/quote:5c3331f30d]

I would look to see if your radiator fan is turning while it is getting hot.

all cavaliers seem to idle hot...i have one myself...you simply cant run AC without having your car in motion.

check to see what coolant flow thru the engine is if your coolant isn,t flowing enough you might need to flush your coolant system. you can not mix Gm,s longlife coolant (dexcool) with normal ethiline glycol it makes a sludge mixture. also check for any air blockage in between the radiator and the air condition rad. road debree can get sucked up between the to and cause restricted air flow

Found the problem...noticed the cooling fan was not turning at about 2/3 hot. I looked at the Cooling Fan relay and and right next the the this relay was the blower fan relay both were the same relay number. I new the blower in the car was working so I swapped relay. Thou and behold after the switch the blower wasn't working. Went and bought a new relay and all is well. Thanks guys for all your suggestions...