My 94 ssei was over-heating. We've had a few warm daysand I just got the car in December. My boyfriend said that he has never seen or heard the fans running. At any rate, he had a few ideas. Even though it'* not warm enough...with the AC on the fans come on. The car was hot when he tried this. When we turned the AC off the fans continued to work and the temperature stayed around 200...in park. Will this always work to help kick on the fans? Where does my problem seem to be. He thinks it might be a relay or at the worst the computer. Any thoughts or direction? Tricks to figure it out? or do I need to hook it up to a machine?

Thanks a bunch, K.O.
The question

When was the last time you did a tune up? (Flush coolant, change Thermostat, oil, etc...) Wait a minute, and more BC members will be able to help you out more

One more thing. Was the car actually smoking, or did the Temp gauge just read over heating? Was it in the red and if so, for how long?

This was my parents car and my dad recently tuned it up, brakes, flush, tires and such before he gave it to me. The car got up to about 240, not for too long, but when I restarted it, it ran rough in park. Another piece of info is; this is a Kentucky car now about 1 mile high in Colorado. My parents came to visit in September and the car had the same problem. Or at least it over-heated could the altitude be causing this?

Yea, the altitude could have a major effect on it. It might not be getting the right amount of air it needs to. Is is a Supercharger? If it is, you should be using premium fuel in it, maybe even try that if it is only a N/A. One way to cool it down for sure is to drop a 180 Thermostat in it and replace the 195 T-Stat. They usually cost about 10-20 bucks at auto zone or wherever. When you mentioned that it ran rough in park, you might want to look at a aftermarket tranny cooler, to hjelp keep the transmission cooler. How many miles does the car have on it?

I would at the very least have the coolant flushed and refilled. Consider a flow test to see if your water pump is getting tired.

The 180° thermostat will help, but not for extended periods of time at idle. As a rule, I turn my climate control on Auto for the fans to control my temps when I'm idling, just as you discovered.

Maybe try reseating the coolant temp sensor connector, but as mentioned, I would have it scanned for codes. If anything my guess would be a temp sender that gives a bad reading when cold that causes the PCM to failsafe at first, and then shut the fans off once the fault clears

Hey rjolly87, this thread is over fourteen years old. Did the wonderful new [related posts] "feature" get you?

Thread closed.