Tibminn

My first question is this: isn't one of the fans supposed to be on at all times that the engine is on?

If the answer is no, than the second part of this is not a fan problem but something else... in any case, please help.

I drove bout an hour and a half on the highway the other day down to a school in the southern part of MN. Anyway, the whole time I was going there, nothing was out of the ordinary. After I got there I parked and got out of my car. An hour later I got in, started it, and drove about a mile. sat in a parking lot with my car idling for 10 minutes, and drove to a restaurant to decide if we wanted to eat. Idled in that parking lot for about 10 minutes as well. I then shut off the car to "save gas" haha. After about a minute we decided not to eat and I started it up again.

This time however, it didnt like it. The car bogged and studdered and just did not want to run. Nervous about what was wrong, I quickly shut it off. My check engine light had been on, but it had been all day. I wasnt worried about it because I have a leak where my gas cap seals so it comes on from time to time so unless I notice something weird, i just ignore it. So basically what Im saying is I dont know if the CEL had anything to do with it. After thinking about it, I started the car again, and same thing. It wasnt running rough, just bogging so i gave it gas. It was fine at higher rpms, just not at idle. I kept the rpms up for awhile and then finally it would idle by itself. Then i put on the ebrake and went to look at the engine.

Open the hood and just about died. it was like 300 degrees in there! I couldnt believe it. Any thing i touched (plastic, rubber, whatever) was so hot that it burned me! Even as far up as the strut bar! (granted thats metal). I just hoped nothing had melted... then i looked down and niether of my fans were running... so yeah assuming thats why. idling for so long with little driving and no fans = no wind... no wind = hot engine...

Wasnt that bad after i let it cool down and we got moving again, no problems on the way home. even stopped a few times to pop the hood and look, but the temp was normal. I hadnt noticed the temp guage b4 becuase I was sitting in the dark parking lot with no lights on and couldnt see my guages... but anyway, if you do think it was from the fans not working (as I do) how can I fix this? Could it be something as simple as a fuse? Let me know what you think, any help is appreciated!

PS- sorry this kinda got long...

Mad-Machine

the fans work "on demand" With one only working when the air conditioning is on, the other when a thermoswitch on the radiator reaches a certain temp.

If you are worried about overheating, I would wait until the car is cool and pop the radiator cap and check how much coolant you have. Being a little low on coolant will not be an issue when you are driving. Once you sit at an idle however, the lack of flow will not be able to overcome the air bubble at the top of your radiator, and will trap all the hot coolant IN the engine and not allow it to circulate through the radiator.

BTW.. the stock coolant temp guage only has like three settings. Cold, normal, and you just toasted your engine.

Tibminn

hmmm Ill have to check the coolant then. It looked fine, but again it was dark and I was looking from a flashlight with an almost daed battery. But, in the case with the engine being that hot, wouldnt the fans be on? I mean Ive seen them on at MUCH lower temps than that...

sharkev

some wire could be loose, or not conected like it should..

the thermoswitch, or maybe some burn fuse.

Tibminn

yeah i havent had a chance to really look at it yet today, but Im hoping that its just a fuse. That would make it quick and painless to fix laugh.gif: haha

Kit-Fox

ok, you guys are gonna think im crazy, Toby didnt wanna idle a year ago, like i turned it on and had to keep it over 1000 rpm so it wouldent turn off, my dads polish, he opens the hood, takes a screwdriver, takes the handle side, and hits it against the air/fuel ratio thingymajiger, the thing that mixes the two, and the car worked normal..... havent had a problem since.

Tibminn

idling isnt my problem. It idles fine now, it just didnt that one time when it was just outragously hot under the hood. And while it was so hot, there was no fan running... so I assume its a fan problem making it overheat.

TiburonWao

I think that the thermostat is damage.... maybe it get stock at 50% and the engine is not getting the enough coolant to lower the heat....

Check that fast, because it will cook your engine and transmission oil... maybe the spark plugs wires (it happened to me)

2001blacktib

have you checked your radiator for leaks or anything? my first car i didn't know the freakin radiator was cracked, and my tranny (auto) kept goin on me and shakin the car somethin furious! well i took it to my mechanic and had to get the tranny rebuilt, cuz the gears were melting cuz the radiator was broke. coulda been a cheap fix but i didn't know. check that and make sure you flush your radiator too cuz you'll notice fluid leaking if its cracked. it'll help the fans too i think, anyone please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong confused.gif
hope this helps

albert

The drivers side fan only comes on when the coolant temp exceed's 205 degrees. It shuts off again at 185 Degrees.

The Passenger side fan is ONLY run when the AC is running. You can FORCE it to come on by turning on the AC.

If your drivers side fan will NOT come on, not matter what the coolant temp, check the wiring and fuzes first. Next, disconnect the plug and run 12V to the fan. Will it run? if not, you found your problem. If the fan will run, check your coolant temp sender for proper readings (can be found on www.hmaservice.com). You might just have a sensor gone bad.

If the coolant temp sender shows accurate, and the FAN still isn't running, but the interior gauge is reading "hot"....check the OTHER Coolant Temp sender gauge (the one for the Dash). It might be bad. (again www.hmaservice.com).

Lastly...did you install new gauge faces? If so, chances are you just installed the temp needle wrong.