spike1856

Alright, I've got a standard '86 Coupe, 2.8L V6, and as far as I can tell just about everything on it is stock. We just bought it last December, so we're still not 100% familiar with it, but we owned an '85 for over a decade so we can generally figure out what we're doing.

The other day I saw that I needed some gas, so I hopped off the freeway and pulled into a gas station. I noticed that my temp. guage was all the way over into the black, to the point where the needle physically couldn't turn any further. I left the car there and grabbed a ride to school, then we put it on a trailer and towed it home that afternoon. We took the radiator cap off and started the engine, turned on the heater, and waited. After a couple minutes it was warmed up, but instead of water started to circulate through the system, it just started pumping out of the top of the radiator. Also, the fan doesn't turn on, and the temp. needle stays over the top even when the car has been sitting in the driveway cold all day.

We replaced the thermostat (and we've checked the new one (195*) in hot water, it's definitely opening). We've made sure the hoses aren't collapsing. we were told that if it was a head gasket, some water should be coming out of the exhaust pipe, but it's dry. There are no leaks anywhere, we let it idle for about ten minutes and the ground under the engine was still bone dry (well, other than a few drops of transmission fluid, but that's another story we're well aware of). We're fairly sure the radiator is clean, but we plan on taking it to a cousin's shop and taking a look, unless someone else suggests a more convenient fix that works.

Here's the part that really has us confused: we pulled the top hose off of the radiator but left everything else connected, with the radiator cap on. By our understanding, when we let the car get warm, water/coolant should have started pumping out of the hose, since it was still connected to the engine. Instead, what happened is water started surging out of the radiator where the hose would normally be connected. Shouldn't that be where water goes INTO the radiator, not out? Is there some reason why the water flow would be reversed?

Any ideas?

spike1856

Here's an update:

The fan runs, but only when he hook it up to a battery charger, so there's either a bad sensor (we can't find the fan switch anywhere on the engine) or a short in the wire leading to the fan. Either way, we're getting a new fan because the motor on this one smells burnt, even though it still spins perfectly fine. The sender unit for the temp. guage is bad, we unplugged it and crossed the terminals on the plug and turned the key on, and the guage fell back down. So we're replacing that sender unit as well.

Anyone able to give me detailed directions on where to find the fan switch? I said I've got an '86 2.8L V6, but it seems that I was lying. According to a Chilton's manual, my engine bay layout looks like the 88-89, and according to the VIN on my windshield my car started life as a 5.0L V8... so we're now guessing that the engine is actually an 88 or 89 2.8L V6.

spike1856

::sigh::

New temp. sensor is in, but the guage is still over the top. New fan is in but still isn't turning when the engine warms up (but this isn't a surprise). Any ideas? At all?

PONTIACGTA1988

well 1988-89 2.8 l the fan switch is located on the passengers side towards the backon the block itself