Overheating

[Kain]

For some reason my cooling fan is not working. I checked the fuse, and it's good, but the fan will not work causing the car to overheat during long periods of low speed driving (under 15 mph) or idling. I think perhaps it's the relays or the fan itself. I'm going to check it out this weekend, but if anyone has experienced these problems it would be helpful to know how others resolved it. Thanks.

[rfpa1]

Hi:
Check the sensor on the thermostat housing is the top one. unplug it with the car on. if the fan starts then thats the problem. Other wise check the relay in the pass side of the engine.

I replaced the sensor on mine. Ordered it from conicelly auto parts. you can go to parts.com.

RF

[rfpa1]

Hi, did you checked the sensors.

Is everything working now. Or still having problems.

[Kain]

I just got around to seeing this post (I have no idea how I missed it...) But I'll try that this weekend. I've got some running to do that are sure to get the temp high enough to check things out.

[rfpa1]

by the way, you do not need to warm up the car that much. turn it on wait about 3 minutes, then unplug the wire from the sensor. it should go on at that point.

[manybrews]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rfpa1)</div><div class='quotemain'>by the way, you do not need to warm up the car that much. turn it on wait about 3 minutes, then unplug the wire from the sensor. it should go on at that point.</div>
i dont recommend this.
you could (and will) trigger a check engine light by disconnecting the ECT sensor.

[rfpa1]

I did this on my car. The Check engine light never came up. Only the code showed that there was a bad sensor.

Its the best way to veryfy if the sensor or the fan motor is bad. In any case, you can drive for a while with the check engine light for a couple of days until it goes off.

[Kain]

I don't worry about the check engine light too much. I got a '94 so it's pre-OBD II. When the check engine light comes on all I have to do is rectify the problem and it goes out instantly (I learned this while messing around with the MAS and occasionally forgetting to plug it back in) Although, I checked the relays visually (I've never been too proficient with testing equipment) and they both show black crust around the edges of the prongs where they go into the relays themselves. I'm thinking I may just have a couple of bad relays. I'm gonna play around with it today and see what I can come up with.

[Kain]

Just as an update:

rfpa1- You were entirely correct I unplugged the top temperature connector and the fan came right on. Now, I just have to go get the part. How much did it cost you?

Manybrews-you were also correct. Doing this did throw a check engine light, however when I pluged the sensor back in, shut off the car, and restarted it the light went back out.

Thanks for the help guys. Now I'll be able to enjoy the air conditioning again. (just in time for temps to go down too)

[rfpa1]

I ordered mine from Conicelly Auto, in PA. But go to the www.parts.com site, then select the closest to you. This are Mitsu parts not after market. All the parts I hve ordered from www.parts.com so far come in Mitsu boxes or bags with labels.

The cost is around 30.00.

If this is you problem do this test. Empty your radiator in a bucket. See if you can get more than 1/2 gallon of antifreeze out, if not, then you have acloged radiator on top of this.

I only get about 1/2 a gallon out of my radiator. Now Iam in search of a new one before I go to the dealer.

[Kain]

I'm almost positive the radiator is not clogged. My car has always run "cold" Meaning it never even gets to the halfway point on the temp guage. Even without the fan running it stays well within the normal operating temperature unless I'm idlying for really long periods of time (20+ min) or driving slowly with the A/C on. It's really not even that big a deal, I just want it to work.

[rfpa1]

Still having problems?

[brandon]

So what was the problem man?

Fill us in!

[manybrews]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kain)</div><div class='quotemain'>I'm pretty sure it's not the thermostat. It's only a little over a year old, and there is water flowing through the radiator when it's supposed to be, and not when it's not supposed to be. That was the first thing I checked out.</div>

looking at the flow of water will really tell you nothing.

although it may not be the t-stat, its certainly the cheapest / easiest part to replace.
and ive seen t-stats seize up in less that 3 months. not many, but ive seen it happen.