seems like a never ending overheating problem with the 89 IROC,last time lost one of the outer plastic radiator end caps,at that time did the fan switch(pass. side between 6&8) and the one front of intake by thermostat,ran fine until last week,the fans do work,but the the primary comes on at high temperature,and both run with defrost/ac on and high temps,also at that time were new 195 thermo and both rad hoses,last week in traffic she went up past 220 and stayed there even while driving and once at work popped hood and fans were running,but never cooled down much,this round i'm thinking the thermo sticking closed??both hoses are hot and have pressure,gonna change to a 180 thermo from napa and the fan relays ar-279,and see what happens,about the same time the new overheating started,with defrost on i hear a very loud clacking from the ac compressor,even hear in in the dash,cycling all the time,are these related or seperate issues???what's the recommended fix to the ac noise??air still cold,and the levels in overflow tank are at the marks,cold/hot the suggestions from here have been invaluable and saved alot of grief and expense,so asking for opinions,THANX in advance :hail:

first off, our cars a designed to run 220* or so, if your using the factory gauge they are notorious for reading wrong. second, if your fans are running then your cooling issues are probably related to air flow (or lack there-of), check between the condensor and radiator for debris (leaves,trash) you'd be supprise at how much trash can get in there. your compressor cycling is due to either low demand (defrost) or low freon, the clacking noise could be due to low freon also.