Cooling Issues

[nelson_hoss]

I have a 1997 Trans Am WS6 with a LT1 6speed that has been having cooling issues. First off my waterpump started leaking out the weep hole so I replaced it with a aftermarket water pump from autozone and everything was good. Month later or so my car was running hotter than normal so I thought my thermostat wasn't opening all the way so I bought a 160 thermostat and replaced the 180 but the temp would only stay at 170 when I was on the highway or cruising and then it would go over 210 almost overheating and then I noticed the fans weren't coming on. So I checked out everything and found I had a bad pcm........it wasn't grounding my fan motors so I had it replaced aswell as my coolant temp sensor...why I did that I changed back my thermostat to whats suppose to be in there and still runs about 180 something on the highway but when I let it idle the temp will rise to 210 maybe 220 and the fans come on and will keep the temp at a constant 210. Now that colder tempatures have came along I have noticed the heater isn't working also, but the air temp will get warm only if the car is idling and the temp gauge is reading 210-220 but still no hot air out of floor,defrost,vents. But when I have the ac or defrost on the car temp will never go over 200 idling or driving but the heater still dosn't work. A few other questions are..........at what temp do the cooling fans suppose to come on at? are they a multiple speed fan like have a low speed or high speed like the hotter the vehicle gets do the fans turn higher rpms? and could a cheap autozone waterpump cause all these problems?

[hotrod_chevyz]

do the fans ever turn on?the ecm signals the fan to turn on somwhere between 180-195 coolant temp.If its not turning on the fan,it could have a number of problems.

[CreepingDeath94]

I doubt the water pump is causing all this. It might just be that the heater core is clogged and the heat isn't getting through it properly. As far as the fan is concerned, I thought that these cars kicked the fan on when the a/c is turned on to run constatntly, or when not in use, to kick on at about 210. As long as that needle is in the middle at about 210 220, it is in the normal operating temp. When you installed the new water pump, did you have to fight it at all or did it go smoothly. These water pumps are gear driven off the cam stock and if that didnt line up or engage properly, that might be causing the pump not to spin properly, though I have never heard of this happening, i guess it is possible.