well guys i have a lil anoying problem with my car.well with the a/c off it runs at 170 all day no matter how hot it is outside.now when i crank the a/c on it will usually stay at 210 no more, but now when i drive it gos up lil by lil untill almost red line but i turn it off and let the car cool down.on the highway it wont heat up w/ the a/c on but minor traffic it will and bumper to bumper even quicker it has never done this to me.

 

Is your radiator fan coming on when you turn on the AC?

 

my car has a single elec fan,and my fan is always running no matter wat.it doesnt ran of a switch.ir runs of ingnition.i was thinking maybe i need adual fan setup or maybe my fan motor is bad

 

The fact that it is running whenever the ignition is on means something isn't right - either the fan relay is stuck, the fan temp switch is shorted, or a previous owner "hot wired" it.

But, that doesn't explain why it overheats with the AC on. Could be your cooling system is in need of service. Or, as you speculate, the fan motor may not be running as well as it should be.

Did this start after the hurricanes?

 

You have an airflow problem causing the car to heat up with the a/c on.

You fan motor may be weak and isn't spinning at the proper rpm. Old fans can't pull the same amount of air they used to when they were new. Cheap aftermarket fan motors my be the wrong rpm also (too slow). I would buy a GM fan motor and see if that helps.

 

Two more things to check:

Dirty condenser coil
Missing air dam

 

dirty condinser coil?missing air dam wat are these two things?

 

condensor coil is in front of your engine radiator, usually aluminium looking same size as radiator but thinnner. lok into the front of the nose you'll see it.

air dam

black plastic deflector under front of car before front end suspension parts. goes the width direction under the radiator support usually helpos move air up to the radiator.

 

It doesn't "usually" help. It is needed to deflect air up to the condenser coil and radiator. Mine was missing and the car would overheat. I installed a new one and the overheating went away. To clean the condenser coil and radiator, spray water through the fan side of the radiator. Do not use a pressure washer.

 

It should run hotter with the A/C the engine has to work a little harder and the condensor is giving off lots of heat. This decreases the amount of heat the radiator can get rid of.

 

It will run hotter yes, it shouldn't overheat though.

 

The problem is simple. Your radiator cannot reject the heat of the engine when the additional heat of the A/C is added in front of it.

As previously stated, you may have either a problem with radiator air flow, or you may have a problem with radiator contamination and coolant flow (or both). To assure proper air flow through th eradiator, you may actually have to loosen the radiator or condenser from the mountings to flush between them. The amount of debris that can accumulate their can be amazing. You may also want to clean the front of the condenser as well, since a layer of insects, leaves, seeds, small animals, plastic shopping bags, etcetera, may be restricting air flow.

Incidentally, the lower air deflector is important, but is essentially useless at speeds below 25 MPH. If your car is overheating in stop/go traffic that does not exceed 25 MPH, a missing lower air deflector is NOT you only problem. The fan alone is responsible for moving air at those speeds and below.

 

i do have the air deflector in the buttom.every once in a while like when i installed my wonder bar i notice it was very dirty on front by the coil so i remove items by hand so it can be dirty again i will check it and probaly seperate the radiator and clean in the middle to.but i think i may change the lil fan motor its only 30 bucks

 

Good choice, when I removed my A/C, there was a bunch of crap between the two even though it looks like stuff should have a hard time getting through there.

I also used a pressure washer on the condensor a few weeks afterwards and that was a very bad idea. Not like I had any plans for the condensor, jsut figured I'd keep it in case I ever came up with some idea in the future. Bent the little fins so no air would flow through