This morning on the way to work I noticed the car was running a little warmer than usual(I usually run right at or below 220*). Today however the car kept creeping closer to the red zone. I popped the hood to see if my resevoir was empty and heard the fan come on. I went and checked the guage it was right at the bottom of the red. The fan cooled the car down to 220* then cut off. Do I need to replace the relay?

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1988 Camaro RS
2.8L five speed
Money pit from hell!!

1988 Camaro
2.8L automatic
t-tops
160* THERMO
Rapid fire plugs

 

the relay maybe, but the factory gauges aren't known for being accurate either.

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ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd

 

How difficult is it to hook up some after market guages?

 

if you do it temporary it's not hard at all, no need to be neat, duct tape it so you can see it thru the windshield.

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ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd

 

Would my guage just be off by 30*? This is kinda a overnight thing. If my guage is off that much I think i'd rather mount a permanent guage in the car somewhere.

 

hard to say, but if everything else seems to be in order it's something to check. have you checked water level, t-stat, rad cap, water pump leaks, rad hose colasping? lot of things can effect the heat your car runs at ,all should be check.

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ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd

 

Remember that the #1 Fan is controlled by the CTS reading from the ecm. Where as the temperature guage has its own sensor.

Without the A/C turned on, Fan #1 generally comes on around 228*F and turns off at 220*F. Fan#2 is much higher (around 250*F) and requires the A/C high pressure switch to turn on along with the A/C to be on.

 

Radiator cap two days old, thermo one week old, new air deflector, no leaks, level is good. Need to check hoses but they're fairly new as well. Was never running a/c



[This message has been edited by HIX5000 (edited February 13, 2001).]

 

Not sure about the V6 RS's, but the V8 RS's have a turn on/turn off right at 220*...with only about a 3-5 degree swing in on/off operation.

Seems as if the fan is being turned on my the "Over temp Saftey) sensor (believe that's what it's referred to in the manual anyways), which means one of a few things...ECM is not turning on the fan (bad ECM) or as mentioned before, the CTS (one in front of intakke on the V8's) is not giving the proper signal.

The single fan systems both use the same fan relay (for ECM and "Over temp" sensor), and I think both use the same power source.

When you say this was an "overnight" thing, did you do any work to the car the day before?

 

I have the same problem-when I bought my car it was running too rich and cold-mechanic screwed it ALL up-now it runs too hot. If its more than 75 degrees out my car runs like a turd. Its been to 2 dealerships and 2 private mechanics-came down to a sensor, which was replaced, but it still overheats in traffic. I summed it up to replacing the stock radiator w/ a Be Cool system. Also-a friend of mine recommened mickeying the wires-grounding the wire for the the thermo so the fan is constantly on. Never tried-it'd run too cool again.

 

The only thing I did to the car was put on an air deflector. It has been running around 180* on the freeway, but it still gets to the bottom of the red when traveling in town.