I bought my car last July and I think it has a 180 stat. The temp gage NEVER goes over 180. It bearly moves from when I start it to after I shut it off. But it does move some so I dunno if its functioning correctly. ALL summer, my fans have only turned on one time, and the temp was normal as it always was (So why did they turn on that time?) This winter for some unknown reason, while idling, the car got pretty hot, I looked at the temp gage and it was reading a bit past 240. So im guessing the gage works then? I started the car 4 other times and its fine. So I dunno why it got hot that one time, but when It did the temp gage showed it, but the fans didnt come on. I dunno it confuses the hell outta me.


Thanks for any input.

 

I'm not really sure what exactly is going on with your car, but keep in mind that the OEM gauge is notorious for being inaccurate. It really should be looked at as giving you a range of temps that it could be at any one time and not being an exact read out of what the temp is.

You may want to get a hold of a scantool of some sort and read the engine temp with it and compare it to your gauge and you will have a better idea of how accurate that OEM gauge is.

 

If your car got over 240 and your fans didn't turn on, then your fan switch or the wiring is bad. This is the sensor in the passenger side head, with one wire going to it.

If you turn your a/c on the fans should come on, does that happen?

 

Im not sure. I'll start it tomorrow and check. If my fans didnt work, wouldnt my car get hot all the time after driving it a while?

 

What I don't understand is, even with a low thermostat, wouldn't idling in traffic cause the stock fan setting to come on.

 

Got me?


Cars stored intill April but I just wanted to get some ideas so maybe I could fix it while it just sits in my garage for the next two months.


On a good note, when it got hot, No damage done! hurray

 

If my fans didnt work, wouldnt my car get hot all the time after driving it a while?

Nope. Not unless you're idling for extended periods of time.

The stock fans come on at something like 235 degrees, so if yours don't come on when you get that high you need to try replacing the guage sensor(drivers side head) to make sure it is accurate. Then try grounding the passenger side sensor/wiring to see if the fans come on.. if not you've got other problems. If so, the sensor in that head is probably bad.