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I was having the same overheating issues with my '94...radiator blew at first from age, after I replaced it, the needle would creeep just past 45% in traffic, then would puke coolant all over the place. Needle would go back down on the open road. In the end it was a slow fan that was causing my headaches. Replaced the fan and the needle hasn't moved since...even in the 105 degree downtown traffic. Hell my AC even blows colder now.
Did you replace it with a factory fan?
Well that's the funny thing, I replaced it with an old junky fan from a '92 or '93 that I had sitting in the garage, still ran great, well a hell of alot better than mine at least.
I'd give you my old fans to play with, but I already gave them to Sammm.
I thought my AC fan was supposed to blow faster than the driver side, that's why I didn't replace it earlier, but when I swapped them the drivers side blows like 30% stronger than the AC fan. I don't know if it's supposed to be like that or my AC fan is bad as well. For now at least it's good enough for 105 degrees.
Might check with a junk yard for a cheap one to test out, or a Vatozone special. I don't know how much a new one is, probably over $100 i'd imagine.
Have you had a cam angle code with the cat code? I had the same trouble last summeryou describe. Sit in traffic, stop and go rush hour followed by a stall, non start until cool down but water temp gage never really going that high. I had cat ineficiency codes with cam angle timing at the events. I did what you did without positive result, thermostat, coolant, fan etc. Problem ended up being the rear cam angle sensor was bad. Replaced and have not had overheat or cat codes since. On my 2001 the cam angle sensor sits on the back of the head in a hot oil bath. The coolant is routed through the front of the head not the back. When it goes out it gives the symptoms of overheating and causes the cat to show ineficient . All the cats you have replaced make me think you havre a bad cam angle sensor on the back of the head.
Hope this helps.
No cam angle sensor code. Only the P0420 - constantly, unless I replace the cat, then I get no codes for about 2-3 weeks, then it comes back. I might catch some flak, but I decided to take it to a friend of mine who has a shop, he's always extremely reasonable with prices. I've got a list of things I've got to get done a mile high, I'll let you guys know the results. Thanks for all the help.
That is the same code I was getting until I replaced the sensor. Sometimes I would get 2 codes but most often it was just the cat code. Should be able to get a good used sensor at a yard for 10 dollars or try Gary. Takes 2 minutes to replace.
Good luck.
Problem with overheating ended up being a faulty cooling fan, it was always spinning for me, but the guy working on it said when it started overheating on him, he looked and the fan wasn't spinning, after a while it started, but was spinning very slowly. Put a new fan motor in it and all seems well with the cooling. The AC was also 6 oz low on refrigerant, so that helped the AC too.
I'll look into the cam angle sensor for my failing cat's. With new plugs, wires, and the sensor, maybe I'll give a new cat one more try....
Thanks again for all the help.
-Tim