1985 Tempo - 2 Questions

Jul 09, 2004 4 Replies
R

A friend just bought a 1985 Tempo, standard trans, 4 cyl...


  1. The electric cooling fan comes on when the car is started, even if the car has been sitting for a few hours without running. The A/C is also turned off. Is this normal?


  1. When you try to start the car, the starter will not turn on and engage unless the clutch pedal to push down right to the floor. If you try to start the car without the clutch engaged and with the shifter sitting in neutral, the starter will not power-up. Is this normal for this vintage of Tempo? Is there some safety feature that prevents the car from starting unless the clutch is engaged?



thanks for your responses


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J

No. The fan is controlled by a thermostat. Probably the thermostat is bad and could be replaced. It is not a big deal, though. Unless your friend plans on keeping this 20-year old car for more than a year or two, I wouldn't worry. It won't hurt anything.

That is probably a switch on the clutch pedal and is probably totally normal.

Has the car always been like this? I suspect it has.

Jeff

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T
1- No it is not normal, the fan is controled by a thermostatic switch

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N

As for bypassing, I would only bypass it with a momentary contact switch that would ALLOW you to crank the engine in gear if required - not a permanent bypass that could let you crank the engine accidently with the clutch engaged in gear. (might help you get off a railway track if it stalls????)

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