over heating

[notamonkey69]

Hi Everyone. I have a 97 malibu and a guy at work has 00. We both had cooling problems with fans not coming on. Mine is intermittent and seems to be electrical I might just jumper the fans for the summer months. His turned out to be his reservoir cap. The o-ring was rotten and did not allow pressure to build up. I do not know the circuit path to explain why the fans didn't come on but he had serious problems with over heating and coolant coming out all the time and now he doesn't.

[bearcatdon]

Originally Posted by notamonkey69

Hi Everyone. I have a 97 malibu and a guy at work has 00. We both had cooling problems with fans not coming on. Mine is intermittent and seems to be electrical I might just jumper the fans for the summer months. His turned out to be his reservoir cap. The o-ring was rotten and did not allow pressure to build up. I do not know the circuit path to explain why the fans didn't come on but he had serious problems with over heating and coolant coming out all the time and now he doesn't.

Your friend’s problem was that without pressure the antifreeze has a lower boiling point and would cause the engine to overheat and lose the coolant.

Your problem seems to be a temp. sensor. Start your car then turn the A/C on. Did that start the fan? If the fan started, your temp. sensor is defective. This is probably why you think it is intermittent. Don't forget that these engines run hot and the fans don't kick in until the gauge gets to about 3/4.

[wymi]

Originally Posted by bearcatdon

Your friend’s problem was that without pressure the antifreeze has a lower boiling point and would cause the engine to overheat and lose the coolant.

Your problem seems to be a temp. sensor. Start your car then turn the A/C on. Did that start the fan? If the fan started, your temp. sensor is defective. This is probably why you think it is intermittent. Don't forget that these engines run hot and the fans don't kick in until the gauge gets to about 3/4.

Aren't the fans suppose to come on when the AC is on?

[johnholl]

The cooling fans do not come on until this engine get extreemly hot. Too hot in my opinion [250 degrees, I think?]

[wymi]

Originally Posted by johnholl

The cooling fans do not come on until this engine get extreemly hot. Too hot in my opinion [250 degrees, I think?]

My fans come on at 225 degrees if I let them. I put in a toggle switch to send power to the low speed fans when I see the temp needle swing a little bit past half on hot days.

[bearcatdon]

Originally Posted by wymi

Aren't the fans suppose to come on when the AC is on?

Yes, the fan will automatically come on when the AC is running regardless of the engine temp. Otherwise, the temp. sensor will turn them on at the 225 range. Therefore, if you start a cold engine, turn your AC on and the fan works, the sensor didn't kick them in when the engine got hot.