ok.. my firebird has overheated several times...and.. ive had a 195 thermo put in it... and the mechanic told me the car normally operates at... between 220 and 260 which i know is NOT normal... so they replaced the thermo with a 160 and it STILL overheated... ive had the radiator flushed... i mean when i got the car it ran normally at 220... never moved passed... but thats when i had to manually jump the fan to make it work... now whenever the car is overheating i turn it to accessory to activate the fan and it wont turn on? the people that always fix it for me say the fan does work... but gee why cant i hear it? ive had the temp fan sensor like the wire replaced to activate it but the mechanic i had fix it then said they dont make a OEM wire for it and you have to pull it off another car? now they say my motor is too powerful for the radiator they say its a 1 cell... and it needs a 2 or 3? i dont have a air damn on the bottom of my car... everyone i know tells me it wont help putting one on... i ordered one from my GM dealer for $35.00 and it was called a Center Air Deflector? was that the correct part? they showed me a diagram and it looked right to me.. so i mean what can i do? should i switch the radiator and put on the airdam? will that make my temp stay way down? instead of its supposed operating temp of 220-260... i mean i want to take the car out of town and trade it in.... so what can i do so it runs cool? like at 220 or below

 

do you have an advance auto parts up there? i got a aluminum radiator for $115. put a 195 thermo in and it never goes above 190 with aftermarket fan.

 

if i got a new radiator and left the 160 thermo in where would that leave me? would it also help with puttin the air damn on?

 

oh and my fan is the stock one... is it possible i can wire it to my ignition switch? if so how can i do it? would it help at all?

 

Put the correct airdam on, it does help, but only when the car is in motion!!

 

Yes Airdams do help...Buy some Waterwetter and dump it in to the radiator/

 

sounds to me like you already know what the problem is.
"
... now whenever the car is overheating i turn it to accessory to activate the fan and it wont turn on? "

you need to find out why your fan is not working. thats what is causing your car to overheat. it could be the fan motor, wiring, fan switch, loose connection. any one of these. but without that fan the car will overheat.

 

i have my fan wired through a relay under the hood so it stays on all the time. the relay is "turned on" by the ignition switch. i just havent taken the time to put in a thermo switch.

 

how can i wire it to my ignition? that be helpful... also i got my airdam... or "center air deflector" its like the shape of a triangle... about...3-4 feet long is it the right part?

 

I agree with V-8 slayer, a bottle of Redline Waterwetter does help (a little, bit everything counts!!)
Look at WWW.REDLINEOIL.COM for more info about Waterwetter.

 

What's the part # for the airdam you got?
Any dig.pics?

 

i bought a relay and mounted it under the hood. 1 wire goes to battery. 1 wire to terminal in fusebox that is only on when ignition is on. run the fan hot wire to the relay.

 

If you need the connector and wire to the fan switch in the cyl head, GM part # 12102621 is it (one wire button terminal with lead). The turbo T/A fan switch is GM part # 3053190. It comes on around 208 or 210 degrees. You can run a toggle switch to manually turn on fan. Connect one end of switch to ground and other to wire that goes to fan switch in pass cyl head (or if have wiring diagram, can find output from ecm inside car).

 

the part number on the center air deflector i got is... 10020322 i have a bad feelin its wrong but i dunno?

 

also does the 1 cell 3 cell radiator thing actually matter?

 

Slow down and listen to the advice. Put the damn air dam on... that is a REQUIRED cooling piece on the Firebird/TA design of the later years (like yours and mine).

Then figure out why your fan isn't working, and fix it. Your problems will all more than likely be solved.

 

You can test fan by grounding wire that plugs into switch in pass cyl head with key on. Fan should run. If not, check relay (on back of firewall by booster?).