Temperature

[KM92SHO]

Ok when i start my car and let it run for a little while sometimes it will climb up to the N on nomral. and start to get get hot and sometimes it will do that when im driving and sometimes it will get hotter. but if i give and the gas sometimes it will drop down to like the r or the a or i have to romp on it to get it to do that. think this has anything to do with the water pump.

 

[Rob94]

Highly unlikely. If the water pump is being driven by the belt, it is pumping fluid. More likey it's a bad thermostat. Does the cooling fan come on at all during this?

 

[haydenm315]

my car tends to get close to the N on a hot day when driving around the city in stop and go traffic. Usually the fan kicks on at about the top of the o and the needle jerks near the bottom of the n. The gauge cluster gauge is inaccurate. When my water temp gauge worked, I think the fan went on around 180F. I think the car gets warm because no air is going through the radiator to cool things down. If I'm moving at a constant pace, it stays around the m or a tad below.

 

[projectSHO89]

The fan should kick on at about 210 degrees when the car is NOT moving at an adequate speed.

Steve

 

[KM92SHO]

Ya the fan kicks on. I just dont think its normal for the car to be doing that. the thermostat is good i check it when i changed my thermostat housing.

 

[haydenm315]

projectSHO89:
The fan should kick on at about 210 degrees when the car is NOT moving at an adequate speed.

Steve

That seems high to me. I thought that our cars use either a 180 or 190 degree thermostat depending on 3.0/3.2 I don't know much about thermostats, but my guess is that 190 means thermostat will open at 190F. Someone please explain this to me if I'm wrong.

 

[DHMag]

your engine temp not only has to do with the t-stat, but also what coolant you are running. when i flushed my system, i refilled with 2 quarts of antifreeze, a bottle of Redline Water Wetter, and the rest with water. my fan now kicks on at 222, whereas with just antifreeze and water, it came on at 212.

i misread the directions for the Water Wetter. next time ill add just the complete bottle of Water Wetter and water. its supposed to drop the operating temp by about 15 degrees when applied correctly.

 

[Shoaz]

Um, the fans are activated by the temperature sensors, and they don't change the trigger points depending on what coolant is being used. Likewise the type of coolant won't change the temperature at which the engine thermostat opens.

Good coolant can help with heat exchange, though, to keep the operating temp from climbing more than it would with a less efficient coolant.

Water wetter is just a surfactant that keeps air bubbles small inside the cooling system. If the temps get high enough that that the coolant around hot spots in the engine starts to boil a little bit, the watter wetter helps to keep the bubbles small, which keeps more of the hotspot area in contact with water rather than the gases coming out of solution. It turns out this makes a big difference in cooling, so operating temps can be dropped by using water wetter if your coolant doesn't already contain a surfactant.

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

haydenm315:

projectSHO89:
The fan should kick on at about 210 degrees when the car is NOT moving at an adequate speed.

Steve

That seems high to me. I thought that our cars use either a 180 or 190 degree thermostat depending on 3.0/3.2 I don't know much about thermostats, but my guess is that 190 means thermostat will open at 190F. Someone please explain this to me if I'm wrong.

haydenm,

Youve got part of it right.
the coolant system has two different limits, minimum and maximum operating temps.

T-stat regulates the MINIMUM operating temp. The t-stat stays closed, until operating temps reach 180/190. Then it opens and allows the coolant to circulate from the block, to the radiator, and back to the block.

The fans turn on at certain temp (about 210 as stated) to regulate MAXIMUM operating temps. The fan relay recieves a signal from the coolant temp sensor at a set temp, then activates the fan(s).

Make sense?

 

[JIMSHO]

i just had a simalar problem with my 94 atx. it drove me nuts . i went out and bought a aftermarket gauge to see what it was doing . come to find out my factory gauge was off . the upper range of it was _ucked up. u may what to try that before dumping mony into part u may not need. hope this helped.

 

[haydenm315]

NotSoSlowSHO:

haydenm315:

projectSHO89:
The fan should kick on at about 210 degrees when the car is NOT moving at an adequate speed.

Steve

That seems high to me. I thought that our cars use either a 180 or 190 degree thermostat depending on 3.0/3.2 I don't know much about thermostats, but my guess is that 190 means thermostat will open at 190F. Someone please explain this to me if I'm wrong.

haydenm,

Youve got part of it right.
the coolant system has two different limits, minimum and maximum operating temps.

T-stat regulates the MINIMUM operating temp. The t-stat stays closed, until operating temps reach 180/190. Then it opens and allows the coolant to circulate from the block, to the radiator, and back to the block.

The fans turn on at certain temp (about 210 as stated) to regulate MAXIMUM operating temps. The fan relay recieves a signal from the coolant temp sensor at a set temp, then activates the fan(s).

Make sense?

thanks for clearing things up.