Hey all, I'll try to keep this short but also give enough good information to get some help. I've got a 1995 Cavalier with the 2.2L OHV engine and about 120,000 miles on it. Never had any major problems until recently, when the engine temp shot up to the red zone and the Check Gages warning light came on. I got it home and let it cool off. The coolant looked like puke and there was almost nothing in the tank.

I asked my dad to take it to a local place I went to last year for a coolant flush and refill, which cost about $70 bucks. He brought it to the Chevy dealer (I specifically told him not to) and they gave him the whole song and dance about "you're lucky we caught these problems ahead of time." So it came home with a new Upper Radiator Hose, thermostat, gasket, and a flushed-and-refilled coolant system. It ended up costing me about $360 for the parts and labor.

Everything seemed to be running okay but the temperature would shoot up when I turned on the A/C. Two days after the work at the Chevy dealer, the car died in front of my friend's house. We checked out the battery cable and it was very corroded and crappy looking. In fact it was so bad on the positive terminal that the cable was stuck to the battery and both had to be replaced. We went to AutoZone and got that taken care of ourselves.

So far I've spent $360 for the coolant flush/hose/thermostat and $65 for a battery and $7 for a battery cable and it was still running hot. I checked the coolant level again and there was almost nothing in the tank. Did the Chevy dealer fill it up all the way I wondered? I bought a jug of Dexcool from AutoZone and made sure it was at the FULL COLD level when the engine was cold. I drove the car around later and it's STILL running hot.

Last year when I had the coolant flushed, the mechanics told me the radiator had a small leak and they recommended I put in some AlumaSeal radiator stop-leak. Everything has been great for the last year until now.

To summarize:
-Engine runs between 195 and the 260 line during normal driving (never used to do this)
-New radiator hose
-New thermostat & gasket
-New battery and cable
-Plenty of Dexcool in the tank
-Heater works fine
-Using A/C makes engine temp shoot up
-All other fluids at correct levels


So what do you think it could be? Pressure cap, water pump, radiator, junk in the cooling system...? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks so much

first off, make sure the system is bled of any air, best thing to do for this is start the car. turen your heater on HIGH, defrost, let it sit and get really warm (let it sit for bout an hour running) on yours, there actualy should be a bleeder. that black metal pipe running in front of your cylinder, head, there should be a tiny bolt in it. every few minutes, crack it open, till you only get coolant out of it,no air.

if that dont work, either your rad is clogged, or your fan is not kickin on. specially since you said it shoots up wehn the A/C is on. next time it gets hot, pull over, leave the car running, and immediately look undere hood to see if the ran is running. ifit's not on, check your cooling fan fuses. go under the hood, u see the huge fuses? the big fues closest to the back of the box, the 30 amp fuse, check it. then check the relay. third relay from the back of the box. lemme know if any of this helps u out

i recently had that problem, like he said chek the fan. it turned out my fan motor was broken and the relay was messed up

Well I went out driving after work today and the engine warmed up past 195 degrees like it's been doing. I checked the fan and it was not coming on. The cooling fan fuse looks okay and so does the relay. They are not corroded and do not have any burn marks or anything unusual on them. But still the fan is not coming on. I wonder if my motor is burned out too?

Put the A/C on and check the fan. The fan won't come on untill 210-220. If you put the A/C on, the fan has to be runing.



Gilles
2.3 Ho

u cant just look at a relay and say it's fine, swap it with one of the other similar relays adn see if it kicks on. if it dont, suspect a bad fan

well I picked up a new relay today. Turned the A/C on full, tried the heater, defroster, and the fan will not come on at all. After that I went and got a new fan motor from AutoZone but I am having trouble removing the fan assembly. The Chilton's manual I have shows one bolt near the radiator drain plug, but I could not get the fan out of there. Any ideas??

should just pulup, then push it towards the motor and lift right out

i have this same problem except i know the fan isnt workin but there is no leak from what i can see when i stop and it always says im low on coolant even if i just put some iin i dont understand it man

well hey i have the same problem, and i have recently found out my motor on the fan is perfectly fine... try directly wiring the fan to your battery, if it spins, it must be your relay, or temperature senser, or your ecu or whatever controls the fan operations is not workin right...i havent found a solution yet either, and my car is leaking oil in unusual places, so the fan isnt very high on my piority list.......

wen i put in my replacement wiring harness, my fan didn't opert, so i just made a manul switch with a 30amp realy for it

hello all I sort of have the same problem. I keep burning through 30 amp cooling fuses like they are going out of style. right now I went and checked the thermostat and it is working fine. And I just went and ran a wire where the 30 amp (cooling fan) fuse should be and turned on the AC and the fan worked properly, but if i turn off the AC button and run the wires directly the fan does not turn on. I do not know what to check next I have replaced the big square (cooling fan) fuse and it seemed to work fine until I blew a 30 AMP fuse again and my car started to overheat again. Any suggestions? my car is a 2002 sunfire 2.2L OHV.

I am looking for struts for my newly aquired Eibach pro-kit performance coils, If anybody has some?

Mfk-223 wrote:Put the A/C on and check the fan. The fan won't come on untill 210-220. If you put the A/C on, the fan has to be runing.

Fan comes on at 224 degrees.
These motors are known for head gaskets to go.

yeah the fan runs when I put the AC on so I know the fan is good . but after awhile the 30 amp cooling fan fuse burns. I talked to my dad to see what he thinks and he says that what might be happening is that the bushing on the fan motor might be getting worn down and so the shaft is loosely rotating around when the fan turns on. Thus causing more friction which causes the motor to need more energy to run and the energy becomes more then 30amps and the fuse blows which results in my car overheating. that is my partial theory any thoughts????

I am looking for struts for my newly aquired Eibach pro-kit performance coils, If anybody has some?

then replace the temp sending unit, new relay switch, test the fan motor. Also the rad could be plugged. usually if those are changed it still has overheating issue. last thing could be H/G issue. Or warped cyl head.

Where is the temp sending unit located. And I am assuming the relay switch is the square fuse that is in the fuse box. When you say radiator is plugged are you referring to dirt and grass clogging the air from passing through the radiator or something else? I really do not want it to be a headgasket or warped cylinder.....

I am looking for struts for my newly aquired Eibach pro-kit performance coils, If anybody has some?