some odd problems with classic

[ryank771]

Okay -- my 99' classic with 53k miles started having a couple wierd issues. I noticed when my car was warming up and I had the front defrost on, then turned my rear defrost on -- my rpm's jumped up to a little over 1k when parked. This only happens when I turn on the rear defrost.......strikes me as odd.

Then yesterday when I was driving home, I pulled into a turning lane and was waiting my turn when my car felt like it was going to die, the idle jumped real low for about 2 seconds. About that time, I noticed my temp was around 225 degrees (the temp outside was only 60 degrees, and I had nothing running but the radio).....any ideas?

I know next week I'm going to get tranny fluid changed out, and fuel filter swapped as well.....but I highly doubt it would be either of those....

-Ryank771

[treeboy38]

The only thing that I can think of would be the throttle position sensor. But don' quote me on that.

[Isnibs]

Quote "turned my rear defrost on -- my rpm's jumped up to a little over 1k when parked. This only happens when I turn on the rear defrost.......strikes me as odd."

The rear defrost uses quite a lot of power, it may be that the RPMs increase to provide more power to the system VIA the alternator.


Quote "Then yesterday when I was driving home, I pulled into a turning lane and was waiting my turn when my car felt like it was going to die, the idle jumped real low for about 2 seconds

When you get your tranny fluid changed out, and fuel filter done have them check the F.P.R. (if it's checkable). Maybe get the codes read.

225 degrees sounds high to me but with luck someone will post the operating temp range of the engine.

[ryank771]

Yeah, she's never gotten that hot before, unless it was 90+ degrees and I had the AC cranked for a while....but even then the fan would kick on and things would get back to normal. Again, not sure if maybe that's normal, even when it's only 60 degrees.

[IT Geek]

I don't think that is normal for the temperature only being 60 degrees. There are a couple of things that you can easily check.

1) Coolant level.
2) Debris in front of the AC condensor.

If those items look good, then there are a couple of other things to look at. First of all, I ran into a problem with the insulation on top of the condensor coming loose and falling between the condensor and the radiator. This allowed a bunch of junk to get in between them, causing loss of cooling on the radiator. But the only way to check that out is to remove the upper tie bar. That is the metal piece that goes from fender to fender and hides the top of the radiator. There are three bolts and one nut on each side, four bolts across the front, and the radiator hose bracket in the middle on the back side of the tie bar. Remove all of those, then the tie bar, then you can see what things look like.

Another thing that I found was the amount of crud that builds up in the fins of the radiator and condensor can be pretty considerable. At the very least, I'd run garden hose water through the fins from the back side of the radiator, just to see what comes out. Anything that gets into the fins will reduce air flow, reducing cooling.

While you've got the tie bar off, you will have more room to possibly check and replace the thermostat. There isn't a lot of room to get at the thermostat, but without the tie bar, it is easier to get to. It's a cheap thing to replace, so you might as well just do it at this point.

Hope this gives you some ideas to look at. My 95 runs at a nice even 200 now that the insulation has been fixed and the radiator and condensor fins have been cleaned.

[ryank771]

Great information -- I will take a look at those this weekend! Never thought of even looking at those things.

--Ryank771