My 2000 alero's temp. guage is reading high. where would i find the thermostat? and approx. how much

Is the engine actually over heating or just the gauge giving incorrect readings?? The stepper motor in the console's temp gauge could be defective. Have someone with a laser heat gun check the temp of the engine around the thermostat to find the correct temp.

System may be vacuum locked. Also make sure you added enough coolent. Also check to make sure you didnt instal the thermostat backwards. If it is vacuum locked, wait for the engine to cool down then remove one of the radiator hoses and put it back on. let it run for awhile with the heat on high.

did you install correct temperature thermostat? also is the temp guage in the car working and what does it read, if it reads a normal reading then the fan may be working improperly.

Yes, it could be, if you take it out and hang it on the side of a pan of boiling water, what you need to do is aquire a thermometer to check the temperature, write down the open temp and the close temp of the thermostat and then put it in the pan to see if it opens and at the correct temp

if you have high miles, 75k or more I would go ahead and have tempature sensor and thermostat it self change. I don't see battery cable would have any bearing to the temperature guage or cooling process. Both switch work almost the same, at time it work well other time it read or work incorrectly because it a sign of unit becoming faulty. If the temperature sensor is faulty half of the time it well give you incorrect reading however if the temp sensor working properly and the Thermostat is not, you will also get a high temp reading due to the Thermostat is not working properly allowing the hot antifreeze to flow out from the engine to the radiator which cause the hot antifreeze to be remain lock up in the engine block. Thermostat suppose to open and close when it reach its temperature; at the same time I would also replace thermostat switch which operate the cooling fan. all three tend to go bad over times; replacing all three is a great ideas. Thermostat, thermostat switch and temperature sensor.

TEMP GAUGE SHOULD STAY IN MIDDLE.IF ITS MOVING UP A LITTLE CLOSE TO RED.CHANGE THERMOSTAT AND RADIATOR PRESSURE CAP MINE RELATIVE CAR DONE THE THE SAME.I REPLACED THEM BOTH -.WARNING IF ITS YOUR FIRST TIME LET A GARAGE DO IT BECAUSE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE THROTTLE BODY OFF.TO GET TO THERMOSTAT.THEN COOLANT SYSTEM IS GOING TO TO BE BLEED.TO KEEP ENGINE FROM OVER HEATING.IF YOU BEEN USE TO WORKING ON CARS. ALL IS GOOD.

you need to make sure your fans are on when the a/c compressor is operating.if they are you need to look for a restriction somewhere.these are the most common problems when high side pegs.

U are talking about two different sending units, one is the Engine Coolant Temp sensor, the other is the temp guage sender, sounds like you have a bad thermostat, if the engine doesn't reach the proper operating temp it will set a code for the engine coolant temp sensor, and the guage will not move or move very little, replace your thermostat and both problems will go away.

Try a full tune up.. get Bosch platnium+4 spark plugs and Acel wires, do the fuel filter and air filter(i suggest K&N) buy some fuel injector cleaner or use Marvel Mystery oil. The ECU could e gone but hard to diagnose if the car needs a tune up.

Yes, but it gets it's signsl from the temp sensor for the emissions system, not the one from the temp guage sensor. It could also be a fuse or relay.