Ok, I've see ALOT of posts with people saying "oh the fan kicks on late" "my gauge must be wrong" "im over heating"....well at school tonight i hooked up the snap on scanner to read the temperature digitally while i sit there and idle in the shop. The pic below shows the "3/4" temp guage reading that everyone (including myself) thinks their car is overheating. Our cars are built to run this hot, the pic below shows about 221 degrees and it does go up a little more then this until the fan kicks on, and that is NORMAL. Our fans kick on at 224 degrees so if you are seeing you gauge look like this pic, it's normal. Mine actually goes up a little more(about the whole needle size) but that's where the fan kicks on....Just trying to help =)
Once i start moving or the fan kicks on, it goes back to the middle, this only happens when i idle.
Yep mine also.
Ever since I switch my cluster with the tach the needle just passes a little over the 195 mark.
www.gmofhouston.com
Yeah, it's normal and perfectly fine, our engines are built to run at that temp. safely. I just posted this to help some people out since i searched and found no pics of it.... I mean I personally don't like looking at the temp gauge that high and I spend quiet some time in traffic going to school lately, I put a switch to the fan, when I'm idling for a while, I'll just flip the switch and the fan keeps it at the 195, middle of the gauge. Took 5-10 minutes to run the switch, blue wire on fan to switch, + on battery to other side of switch..simple, i just T'd into the blue wire so if i do forget, the fan will still come on as it should.
Mine reading like that while I am idling in the drive thru. Could be the temp sending unit switch, Also need youre relay replaced. Fan could be getting weak as well. Possible H/G premature failing.
^ Did you not read what I wrote? I've had 2 cavaliers and my friend's cavalier does this too. I had it on the snap on scanner, AllData says the fan is not supposed to kick on until 224 degrees which it did, the gauge just looks hot but that is where 224 degrees is on the gauge.
Heh, mine runs at a cool 180* all day long, 3800 swap with STOCK jbody cooling... works great.
When I first bought my cavi it ran 3/4 all the time sometimes up to the end of normal and the guy said it was normal. Well one day on my way home I got on it and second and it started rattling right when I shifted to third so I out a junk yard motor in it. I changed the thermostat on the new motor with an hem 185f and it still ran 3/4always thought nothing of it a month later thermostat stuck closed completely and it started to overheat so I replaced it now my gauge is a tick under half and if it sits am isles for am extended time it gets to almost 3/4 and fans come on long story short I now wonder if it wondering that hot for 2momths killed my engine via a partially stuck thermostat and the first replacement was bad to. I'll.never know but something to think about. Either way make sure everyone understands running that hot all the time not good. But when idling its fine.
95LsCoupe wrote: Took 5-10 minutes to run the switch, blue wire on fan to switch, + on battery to other side of switch..simple, i just T'd into the blue wire so if i do forget, the fan will still come on as it should.
You know thats not the proper way of doing it right? The fan will draw more amps than the switch is designed to handle and will eventually burn out. I had a buddy do it like that on his s10 and the switch got so hot it started the carpet on fire.
The power from the switch should be used to trigger a relay that is hooked to the battery and fan.
Not trying to be a dick, just hate to see something go wrong.
"Oil Leak ? What oil Leak ? Oh, Thats Just The Sweat From All The HorsePower!!"
DSMskyline wrote:95LsCoupe wrote: Took 5-10 minutes to run the switch, blue wire on fan to switch, + on battery to other side of switch..simple, i just T'd into the blue wire so if i do forget, the fan will still come on as it should.
You know thats not the proper way of doing it right? The fan will draw more amps than the switch is designed to handle and will eventually burn out. I had a buddy do it like that on his s10 and the switch got so hot it started the carpet on fire.
The power from the switch should be used to trigger a relay that is hooked to the battery and fan.
Not trying to be a dick, just hate to see something go wrong.
Na you probably right, to be honest, i dont really understand the relays lol but i rarely use the switch, only in long drivethroughs and traffic which im rarely in..it's kind of there for a safety thing(helps me sleep at night) but i heard taking the ground wire from the relay to switch, then other side of the switch to a ground which will just bypass it and ground it but im not sure that works. There is a How To on here but that was crazy complicated lol i dont know that much about electricity, but what if i just put a 30A fuse in between the wire directly from the battery to switch? Btw 30A is the stock fan fuse if you didnt know. would that work?(serious question lol)
and can i ask how it set the carpet on fire? my switch is mounted in the dash near the dimmer switch...no carpet near it....unless he just let it chill on the floor?
Yes it should be fused with a 30A fuse but that wont stop the switch from getting hot and burning out. Also, hooking up a switch to the relay like you described would not work. When the switch is open in that configuration, the fan would never come on regardless of temperature.
eh ill hook up a fuse to be little safer, but the wost that will happen is i have to buy a new 99 cent switch
95LsCoupe wrote:eh ill hook up a fuse to be little safer, but the wost that will happen is i have to buy a new 99 cent switch
so, you don't know how to read relays, yet I'm supposed to believe you when you tell me that 30 degrees overtemp is safe and normal?
sorry I don't buy it. I programmed my fans to come on at 215 (to give a little bit of flexability to the fan). if op temp is 195, why is 225 ok?
if factory specs were ok, then tuning the AFR would be a waste of time too (which we all know it isn't).
on a stock car, with no mods, I logged 7 degrees of knock retard and an AFR getting as high as 15.8:1 under wide open throttle, injector duty cycle at 90% (too high). after upgrading my injectors, and tuning the AFR under WOT for 13:1, the knock retard reduced to less than 1 degree, duty cycle dropped to 55% (injectors are a bit too big now, but thats ok), and the car runs better.
OEM sank a lot of money into research and development, but I never understood why pushing 230 degrees isn't considered overheating. Pretty sure 255 is considered 'in the red', so why let the car get more than half way there from 195?
I think the longevity of the fan may play into it, but i'd much rather replace a fan than change a headgasket or have to have machine work done.
Ive put in a switch to turn on my radiator fan, the switch has 3 wires to it. One T'd to the power wire to the fan, one directly from the battery, and one ground for the light on the switch. Randomly i will look over and see the light on(even when it's in the off position). When this happens, a CEL pops up, it lasts for a few minutes then when the switch light goes out, the CEL disapears so i never have a chance to scan the code.
Any Ideas? Bad switch ground?
I'm overheating. Even checked with my scan tool, I was reading at 230 when I forced myself to shut off the car. The fan kicked on at 225, but I remember it use to come on when it barely got to 195. Is that a fan switch that's going out?
the fan shoulda brought it down to 218 i believe.....i also think our fans have 2 speeds because when i checked what temp mine came on, it said Low Fan On at 225, maybe we have a high setting not sure....and im really not sure about the switch going out, maybe that's related to your a/c? idk where you are, but here its hot and everyones got their ac on
Im in Cali, so ya it's gonna get hot soon. Which I why I made sure my window motors were done. I just dont want to overheat, it's summer and it's easier to overheat.
same here on my 2.4L 1996 at idle goes past middle a bit
~1996 Cavalier LS 2.4L (auto)
