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94 SL2 Overheat problems....

I've had the car for about a year and wrote a couple times about a problem I was having with the temp gauge bouncing all over. I thought it was the thermo - changed that, Radiator - changed that, Fan- working

But something happened on the way to and from the Bills-Jets game yesterday that got me wondering....

Stuck in traffic after the game and temp gradually got up to near red-line, so we turned on the heat and it dropped a bit for a minute, then came back up. It was then that I thought of something that I had read on here about the fan being on all the time when you throw on the A/C...So I gave it a shot and the temp shot down in a minute and stayed there until I shut of the A/C, then started creeping up again. Is there some sensor that tells the fan to come on when a certain temp is reached? Where is it and is it easy to have it checked to see if it's working right? If not, how much to replace?

Thanks

Reply to
Scott MacIntyre
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There is a coolant temperature sensor - on the block near the top left.

If that fails, sometimes the computer will think that the engine is not as hot as it is and will not turn the fan on. Turning on the A/C will force the fan to go on.

Stop by the Saturn dealer, buy the coolant temperature sensor that feeds the computer (there are two - one is for the gage, one is for the computer).

While you're there, ask the mechanic to show you where it is.

It's an easy fix. Good Luck.

Reply to
Kirk Kohnen

Coolant temperature sensors seem to be a common failure item on the Saturn S-series cars, they can crack and result in false temperature readings to the ECM. Note that there are often two of them, one for the ECM (2 wires) and one for the gauge (1 wire) - the ECM one is the one you want to check/replace.

Reply to
Robert Hancock

Actually its on the cylinder head but thats detail is trivial.....

This will often be accompanied by decreased gas mileage and possibly high idle.

The sensor with 2 wires is for the computer, with 1 wire is for the gauge. FYI, the intake air temp and the coolant temp sensor for the computer is the exact same part number.

Reply to
BANDIT2941

Thanks for the info everyone...

I'll try to get to it this weekend as Sunday is usually the only day the car sits still long enough to work on it...

Reply to
Scott MacIntyre

Let us know how you make out.

Reply to
BANDIT2941

In my case, I had a defective ECM and not a bad sensor. My '01 SW2's temperature gauge would shoot up to the red zone at a cold startup (and stay there), so we knew it wasn't really overheating. I could, and did, run the car like this for a month after I paid $45 for a diagnosis. Then the fuel gauge did the same thing. I decided to spring a new ECM at that point. It fixed the gauge problem.

r.b.

Reply to
flatline

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