Ok I have a 1989 Trans am with the 305 tbi. I honestly trust the car to take me anywhere when I am not stuck in traffic.... When I am driving the car it seems to have only gotten up to maybe 205 temp but as soon as I am stuck in traffic or simply sitting in the parking lot the temp will slowly but surely rise and will not drop back down to normal temp until I take off again. I recently put in a new radiator with all new coolant and yes I made sure to get the air out as well. There is a semi new thermostat (cheap autozone kind I put in about a month ago) and all my hoses seem to check out. The only one I would say could use replacing is the top hose, it swells up a bit but has never ballooned to a extreme that I have seen other hoses get to. My brother seems to think I have a blown head gasket but I check my oil almost daily and it is not milky. One thing I did notice today is that their seems to be dirt/mud in my radiator and overflow, not sure how that could have happened but it did. Plan on draining and flushing my radiator/overflow tomorrow since I have the day off. Any other suggestions?

 

Well I cleaned my overflow and flushed my system and went for a little test drive. I ended with the same results, cool motor while driving overheating motor while in traffic or parked. Come to find out my fans seem to not be turning on, I sat in my parking lot with the car running to check everything and noticed my electric fan not on, even tho the temp was well into the 230 - 240 range and still climbing. Now a quick search and I found some wiring diagrams for the electric fan but the one I am looking at shows two fans and I only have one. I will continue to search but if anyone can give me quick help or the correct link it would be much appreciated.

 

TBI, 238°F fan turn on. It's made it 23 years like that, no reason to be alarmed now.

 

Wow it really gets that hot before turning on? Just to be on the safe side how would I check to make sure the fan is still working. Would atleast put my mind at ease.

 

Turn on your A/C. On TBI, it will make the fan run regardless of the A/C itself working.
I sold my '91 with 224k miles on the stock motor, the temp is rather harmless to engines made to run at that temperature. For the longest time, I didn't even have a working fan because the engine never got hot enough (past 220-230°) to warrant fixing the fan.
Minimal searching (scroll down the page) will net you a post about all the different temp fan switches.

 

Get a trans cooler for it. Cheap insurance to protect the trans.

 

Well even with my fan on A/C on the fan never kicked on, tho I did try it with a fairly cold engine (only drove for like 10 minutes) either way I have drove it for a couple of days now and the temp stayed around 200 - 210 so regardless if the fan is working properly or not as long as it holds together for me one more week I will be ok I work 12 hour shifts so I really only get to pop the hood on the weekends.

 

Temperature is irrelevant. The HVAC controls ground the fan relay direct.
If it's quiet enough, and the engine off, key on, you can hear the fan relay click.
The relay could just be shot, blown fuse, etc. Testing the fan with direct power is the most certain way to test operation.
I personally wouldn't lose any sleep if it were my car. No telling how long it may not have worked and the car has been fine. It'll survive a few more days.

Keep in mind also that if the thermostat is stock, it's a 195°F t-stat so, it's natural the engine would hover around 200°.

 

Yes I even tried just the key on and turning the A/C on and the fan does not move. I have no doubt that it will survive a few more days just frustrating sometimes, I am under the hood of this car more than I drive it lol. I think dirt/mud/gunk/whatever that was in the overflow is from the idgit that had the car before me. He was just putting regular antifreeze mix in with Dexcool or whatever it is called.

 

wire in a hayden adjustable fan switch and call it a day. They are cheap enough on amazon ($20)