temp gauge

i was sittin in traffic and was watching the temp gauge. it got all the way up to the 3/4 mark. is this normal. do i need to change the themastat.

just make sure your fan's working, and you have a good temp. sensor in it. the fan doesn't kick on until about 226 degrees F, sometimes they read a little high, but they're fine.

ok. thanks for the reply. i was just concern about that.

I had the same question.... I can't believe they would play that close with fire, my intro to Saturn's is scaring me of what I picked up. I may leave future work to the dealer. I am used to Honda's and Toyota's... Looks like Saturn threw out the design book and started from scratch if this is the way the car is supposed to run. Felt a little wierd not seeing a dedicated overflow tank either, however my friend saids his WRX is the same way.

I just bought a 93 SC2. It was having the issue where it wouldn't warm up and then was all over the map temp wise. I replaced the thermostat, both ects sensors, the connector for the 2 wire one (the 1 wire replacement was an accident tapped the connector reaching in and it decided to crack off on me... I swear those things look like land mines to me when I look under a saturn hood now). I also ended up having to replace the radiator. After all that work a crack showed up in the radiator.

Anyways I thought this solved everything. The car heats up normally seems better under control UNLESS I am idling. The temp gauge likes to go up to the 3/4 mark still... Is this normal. I usually freak out and turn on the A/C and consequently the fan because I don't want to find out what happens the hard way. But is this normal for a Saturn to just let the engine get this hot before the fan turns on? Obviously the fan works if the A/C trick fixes it. It seems like I got everything else that would cause this phenomenon....

This is normal. The rad fan does not come on until the needle is about 3/4 of the way to the red. I don't like this set up either. I usually trip the A/C switch when the needle climbs above the have way point just to be on the save side.