THE PUNSSHR

Here's the story..

Yesterday I was running driving around town for a while when all of a sudden my car decided to overheat. The temp gaugewas at it's normal position, a bit under 210. It slowly started to climb up to about 220-230. Then it suddenly shot all the way to the red-zone. I pulled over and shut the car off. All this time in never heard any fans come on. The coolant level said full. The AC condenser was really hot along with all the radiator hoses. I let the car sit for about 5 minutes and then turned it back on. Temp was at about 230, I turned the heater all the way on and it slowly when back to normal temp. I drove back home. Today, I took the car out for a drive. At first it was fine then the temp went to about 220 for about a minute and then went back down. It stayed a bit past the 210 mark. Let the car sit 30 min then drove it agian, it did the same thing. I noticed that the drivers side fan would come on once it got a bit passed the 210 mark. What could be the problem. I need to fix this asap.

* Thing I noticed today. AC Condenser and all hoses get really hot.Only the drivers side fan comes on. Is the passenger side set for a hotter temp? The fuses for the fans are really hot. The whole mototr and engine bay feel alot hotter that normal. This is all i could think of right now.

Sorry for the long post, just want to expain my situation the best I can.

Thanks Guys!!

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

bad fan motor?????

needadvice

fans come on together, two different speeds. You need them both to stay cool during city driving. If they both are not working you will overheat just like you describe.

Go for a 30 minute cruise on the highway at 65 mph, you shouldn't get hot at all. Don't need the fans during cruise.

BACKN70

I experienced the same issue with overheating. My belt actually broke, and the reason for it was a seized bearing on the waterpump. If I were you, it sounds like you have excessive friction on one of the pulleys in your car. I would push the tensioner and take off the belt to see if you can spin the power steering pump with ease, waterpump pulley, tensioner a/c compressor pulley alternator pulley, and see if they are able to spin freely.

Also check the condition of the belt too while you're at it.

If all is ok. at that point. I would move onto the fans to make sure they're kicking in at idle when it reaches the temp. that it's supposed to kick in. If the fans are not kicking in I would check to see if you are getting 12 volts to the fans.

Good luck. I replaced my water pump and thermostat housing, and I overheated once after that. My system seems not to be pressurized, and have ordered a new radiator cap today.

Good luck with your car.

THE PUNSSHR

I noticed that when I drive at a high cruise speed the car wont overheat. Once I do alot of stop and go, the temp rises. What could it be? A bad fan or could it be the fuse?

THE PUNSSHR

Only one fan comes on when the car reaches a high temp at idle..

needadvice

Did you read post #3????

needadvice

Also, your fans need to be operating on the low fan setting and the high fan setting.

dailydriver

One more thing;
IF the hoses are old/original, they can collapse and at least partially block the flow, acting somewhat like a stuck closed thermostat.
Granted if this is the case it usually happens at higher engine/water pump speeds, but it can also happen at lower speeds if the hoses are really soft/worn out.

THE PUNSSHR

Which fan is supposed to come on with the AC? I turned the AC on and the drivers side fan came on but not the passenger side fan. I switched the relays and the the passenger side fan comes on but not the drivers side one.

needadvice

They both come on together every single time for 10 years in my car. They also run on either low or high TOGETHER.

THE PUNSSHR

I bought a new relay for the passenger side fan and put it on. I turned on the AC and only the drivers side fan came on. Switched the relays and then the passenger side came on but not the drivers. What is going on here? It's still doing the same thing.

Runriot

Sercice manual for a '99 says both fans operate together at all times. There are THREE fan relays an all are operated by the PCM. When max cool is needed PCM runs all three relays. Look for another relay and sub out since you have an extra one now.Good Luck!

THE PUNSSHR

Gonna keep switching the relays around and see what happens. The third relay would be different right, since it's black and has a different number on it?

Runriot

You bought one new relay.Then, of the two you were looking at, you pulled one out.Lets say that was the bad one and now you plugged in the new one-problem solved. But lets say you pulled a good one out and left a bad one in and now plugged in a new one-you still have the same problem.You reverse those two and a different fan runs but still only the one runs.
If relays don't fix it, then only other thing it looks like it could be is PCM or broken wire somwhere.PCM is probably going to cost you, so if the relays aren't to costly,I would change all three and see what happens.I don't know what color they are.

98LS-WON

Check for something partially blocking the radiator. I got a plastic bag between it and the condenseror and it took me a few days to figure out the problem.

mlatorre

The PCM controls two relays one relay turns on both fans at one half battery voltage about six volts each or low speed they are wired in series. The other relay changes the wiring to a parallel circut twelve volts on each fan or high speed this generaly comes in at about 235 degrees. If only one fan is working then start checking the fan motors and wiring from the relays, hope this helps.
(mlatorre)

Elthesh

iTrader: (1)

You very likely replaced the wrong relay. Like the post above says, you swapped relays to test and never stated that you swapped them back to their original spots and when you went to buy a new one, you said you replaced the relay on the passenger side. That was the relay that was currently working after the first swap. So you may have removed a good relay and relaced it with the new good relay. If swapping relays gets the other fan to work, then the other relay is bad. It's also entirely possible that the second original relay just happened to die when you replaced one with a new one. In that case, you're gonna need a second new relay, obviously.