finally got my A/C charged the other day and of course i was making good use of it today since it was about 90 degrees out....but while driving i noticed that my temp was way up....basically up to line b4 the red on the gauge. Seemed a bit backwards to me cuz i thought that running the a/c / compressor keeps the fans going which would also keep the engine cooler, but its the opposite cuz i ran cooler temps when i didn't have the a/c {like 220} so any ideas why i'm running hotter now with the a/c?

The engine is working harder trying to turn the ac compressor.
Most big hills have a reminder to turn off your ac while climbing for this reason.
Still your running hot, hows your coolant, been flushed in the last few years?

That is what you would expect. With the A/C working, the condenser that sits in front of the radiator now gets the cool air first and heats it up before the radiator gets it. (This presumes your fans are running when the AC is on.) So, the radiator runs hotter, and you see that on your gauge. But, bumping up against the red is too hot. That would motivate me to start looking for cooling system problems, like low coolant, weak water pump, inefficient radiator, cooling system in need of a flush, new or lower temperature thermostat. That sort of stuff.

[edit: ha, PontiacDad, beat me to the punch!]

no real serious hills around here, but there is stop & go traffic...

who knows the last time the coolant has been flushed...i've only had the car for about 3 months.....the coolant is funny looking though.....so a flush may be in order....

i imagine this is something that needs to be done asap since those kind of temps can be damaging, right?

With my AC on, on the hottest days (110F) climbing the siskiyou summit on I-5, I never go over 210. You have a problem.

Yeah - up against the red I think for extended times may be hard on things, like intake manifold gaskets, for example. I don't think they do too well with heat.

The EGR-less 92'* will tend to run a bit hotter (the EGR keeps it cooler) but you're not EGR-less with the SSEi. Get it checked out professionally. Flow and coolant both.

thanks, i guess i'll start callin around on that tomorrow, it'* only gonna get worse with the summer heat, i'll limit the a/c use too to avoid the high temps.

My first 92 that I had did real well with cooling until my water pump went out. It put a small groove behind the water pump and it never cooled as well again. I hope yours is a much simpler problem. Good luck. Bit I do agree with the previous statement. Get your coolant flushed and your radiator professionally cleaned. I put in stop leak in my car after the pump went out to get home and it cut my flow dow to 8 gal per min. instead of 18 gal. (I think that is right it has been a long time ago.) Low flow would cause it to overheat in stop and go traffic and very fast freeway speeds. 75ish +. I hope this helps. Good luck.

odd....

came from school and went to work today with the A/C on and didn't have any extreme temps like yesterday. The highest it went was the mark after 200 degrees {215*?} but always cooled down to around {but not below} 200 afterwards. I'm still gonna get the coolant flushed since it isn't really a natural color, but any ideas why i was so hot yesterday, but not today? The outside temp was about the same as well...