1997 Saturn SC1 Over Heating while sitting in traffic or pa

JACK2578

MEMBER
1997 SATURN SC1
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
129,000 MILES

Trying to figure out what is causing my car to over heat while sitting in traffic or parked. I swapped out thermostat, swapped out coolant temp sensor, unplugged the battery, checked coolant level, checked fuse, checked relay by swapping with AC relay.
Cooling fan comes on when AC is on, but other wise it never comes on. It also shows that the car is over heating by the temperature gauge inside the car. Any ideas?

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 AT 12:37 PM

3 Replies

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

How high does the temp gauge read when it's over heating?If u turn the a/c on when it's overheating does it cool down?Are u sure the fan doesn't come on even with a new coolant temp sensor?I have seen fans come on and turning too slow to cool the engine being a bad fan.I have also seen plastic bags blocking the radiator or a/c condensor so there isn't enough air being pulled thru the radiator to cool the engine. Also I have seen the radiator or condensor so plugged with sand cat fur etc the the air comming thru the radiator just isn't enough. Let me know what u find.
Louie

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Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 AT 12:12 AM

JACK2578

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Thanks for your reply, but it turns out I had just a little to much coolant which just over flowed a little. So it wasn't overheating after I changed thermostat and coolant temp sensor. I just got nervous when it went a little past the middle of the gauge and saw some coolant leak over. I thought the fan would come on at what I'm assuming is 220 at the middle of the temp gauge.

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Saturday, October 10th, 2009 AT 6:40 PM

SATURNTECH9