i realize the fans arent working, but when i took out the thermofan switch, and heated it up, they came on first the slow speed, then a few seconds later the high speed, turned off ignition, they went back to slow speed, and when cooled down enough, turned off by themself. as far as i know, thats what they are supposed to do.

so they just arent working when the coolant is what should be getting hot. so the coolant in the radiator is not getting as hot as the coolant in the engine.

i had the radiator out on the driveway spraying water through it, and it didnt seem like there was anything blocking it... only other valve in the cooling system is the thermostat, right?

 

The fans are controlled soley by the thermoswitch, the guage means nothing to them.

That sounds odd - are you sure you don't have some kind of hellacious air bubble in there? Is the thermostat working?

 

IIRC, there's a separate coolant temperature gauge for the gauge in the car.

 

Yes, it's on the engine block.

 

i dont believe its a bubble, i have bled, drained, refilled and bled, bled some more, both ways, like in the owners manual, and also with the front end jacked up to try and assist. the problem has remained the same throughout

I dont know if the thermostat is working which is why im left to question that. i havent tried to get it out yet, but i imagine i can test it in a pot of water on the stove and just see if it opens and closes?

 

I had an air bubble in my car that was a complete pain to fix...took well over an hour of bleeding, burping, cursing, bleeding and more bleeding before it was resolved.

 

Can you get fully hot air from the heater while idling?

When my S has an air pocket the the air coming from the heater cools down, I only get full hot at higher RPMs.

 

yes, i think there is an issue somewhere with my heat/ac controls, but i disconnected the heater clip which was broke when i got the car, and put the fan on, the result was full blast hot air. was always told have full heat on when bleeding system to make sure coolant goes everywhere, when i got in the car to turn it off, it was cookin

 

is this the sensor that you changed?

 

i havent changed any sensors yet, i have a thermofan switch and seal coming (the one in the radiator) , as well as a thermostat.

 

"I had the radiator out on the driveway spraying water through it, and it didnt seem like there was anything blocking it...

Andrew... Good try but I don't think this means much. If the radiator loses 10 or 15% of flow or there is a coating of sediment along the inner surface of the runners, the efficiency will drop off really fast - at least thats my theory. I have the same situation, especially on my two higher milage cars. They have 20 year old radiators and like you I get the basic functions working first but to get serious, I think a new rad is in order.

PS... did ya ever notice how many old radiators are for sale on EBay? Most should probably say worked good on cool days/evenings...;] Bruce

 

radiator will be the last part to replace, as its the most out of the cooling system components, albeit close to the waterpump...

just baffles me that the temp gauge sensor will read it so hot, but the thermoswitch wont read it hot enough to turn on. i bought the lower temp switch, just in case.

 

You can test your cooling problem using this to guide you...http://www.clarks-garage.com/pdf-manual/cool-01.pdf

The gauge should float around between the 2nd and 3rd line. As long as it doesn't go ABOVE the 3rd line, your fine.

Good Luck

 

the problem was its getting to the third line and the fans arent kicking on, when i know they should be. so its like the radiator coolant is a different temperature then the engine coolant. i shut her down before it goes past the third line