260 degree coolant?

[GhettoD887]

After starting up and driving about 2 minutes my 1997 Cadillac deville went crazy with warnings: 260 F coolant, traction control light,  overheating idle engine , and then I lost power.

[BodybyFisher]

So it has to be something that drove you to overheating quickly.  What I don't understand is the traction control unless that is related to the PCM putting the engine into limp mode.   The 260 does not bother me, I have been to 260 after a long drive in August then going into bumper to bumper for 25 miles it was 100 degrees out, but my cooling system was fully renovated. 

You might have lost a water pump drive belt, 

Check the belt, check whether you have any coolant, the thermostat could have failed closed I have had one fail and its an immediate spike, they wear and the spring cocks them to one side and they bind, if it binds closed, the coolant temp spikes high.  

you could have had a bad leak and had no coolant when you started out, but normally you would have gotten a LOW coolant message on start up.   Do you recall seeing a low coolant message?

Tell us more, what did you check

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[GhettoD887]

Yeah it did but I put some coolant in and it seemed good. No warnings. But I'm sure there's a leak somewhere, thats awfully fast to heat up. So I reset the traction control light,  it's still on but not so much drag on acceleration. The thing just keeps overheating.  I noticed that when I n.v tried mlm turning the heater on to help release some of the darn heat it doesn't even work. Which took me to the fans that aren't on either. I checked all this after reading one of your guys' comments to the very vague guy with minimal details.

So I think that's where my day begins tomorrow; the fans, then the leak, I'm sure it'll rear its little head eventually (hopefully it's only one). And hope there isn't too much damage already to salvage a few more out of this one here.

[BodybyFisher]

I asked you to check a couple of things

1) check the water pump belt for condition, cracking and tension of the tensioner, look for evidence of slipping

2) You should change the thermostat, feel the hose leading to the thermostat housing to see if it is hot, you probably should pull it and replace it, you spiked fast.  

3) check to see what DTC codes have been set, look at the bottom of my post here and post all codes here.  That message means a code was set

4) When you say, you put some coolant in how much?

5) Check to see if the cooling system is holding pressure, the upper hose should get hard at operating temp.  Discard the cap and replace it.  Remember, water boils at 212 degrees with no pressure the boiling point is raised under pressure, if your system doesnt hold pressure its a problem.

6) That said make sure the coolant concentration is at least 50/50. That is 50% coolant to 50% water

7) check the.air purge line to be sure it flows, very important, do a search here for air purge line, if you cant find it let me know, it must flow to let air out

7) After all of the above you probably should eliminate blown head gaskets as a cause, and when you have checked the above Ill tell you how

It is important that you respond to questions we ask to diagnose this correct