ALEX L

I've got an '88 944 Turbo "s" that reaches that second line on the temp gauge in traffic pretty easily then comes back to the first line when moving. It never did this before so I know something is amiss! Also, I've been in need of putting in additional coolant from time to time as the mark reaches below minimum on the tank. Do you think this is a water pump issue or a thermostat issue? How do I diagnose each and what is the fix? many thanks in advance! null [img]null[/img]

Matt O.

From my experience and from what I've seen of others often time it's the thermo. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I think that part is 30 or so dollars so it wouldn't hurt to replace. Does your right fan turn on when you turn the a/c on? Does the left fan come on at all and stay on after you stop the car?

Good luck,
Matt

PS
You may check the lower radiator hose I think it is called. That was bad (along with the thermo) and I had similar symptoms as you. Replacing those did the trick and I haven't had to put any coolant in since (several months).

ALEX L

I'm not sure if the fans turn on and off in that sequence but i do know that when I let the car idle in my garage and it gets hot then both fans turn on. Should the left fan only come on after the car is off? If it doesn't is that a sign the thermo is bad?

Matt O.

No, that's not what I was getting at. Just wanted to make sure your fans actually worked.

I'd still check on that lower radiator hose, or maybe just replace all the hoses and thermo (not a bad idea to do in older cars).

-Matt

Adam Richman

Alex, are you loosing any coolant? I marked mine for a while with a black felt tip pen to be sure.

I had a littany of issues, worn hose which caused a lot of coolant loss. Fixed that and replaced all hoses and coolant loss was lessened but heat issues were still present. If your fans are working, then I'd check the hoses. If there is almost no perceived coolant loss (which was where I eventually turned it over to my mechanic) then go after the radiator. We put a pressure top do-flatchey and I dropped 3 psi in thirty minutes - ended up being the radiator.

All, am I wrong in saying that if you see coolant coming into the resevoir from the return, your themostat is opening???

Bob S. 1984 Silver

You guys ever check the front of your radiator and check to see how much road crud is clogging the fins? It's like chicken soup.."It wouldn't hurt!!"

Bob S. (very clean radiator..better be here in Tucson)

Adam Richman

You mean the actual radiator or the A/C condenser? The only way I could get to mine was when we took it out and the fins looked fine.

Riff

You might want to bleed the coolant system of air. The symptoms you describe sound like air in the system, how the air got there, who knows. You might have a small coolant leak that is allowing air to get in somewhere. Give it a good bleed and see if the problem persists.

HTH,
Riff

'90 S2

IceShark

It sounds like some sort of efficiency issue which of course could be caused by a host of items. The radiator fans don't pull as much air through the radiator as the ram air from moving fast and you must be just inefficient enough that that makes a difference.

I would first start out finding where you are losing coolant. It could be as simple as a weak expansion tank cap letting coolant leak through the overflow hose when it gets hot.

Cleaning and combing out the A/C and radiator fins is a good idea. You need to remove the first belly pan that screws to the front nose to get at them. Make a hook on the end of a thin metal wire to comb and pull junk out.