While we were out driving today the car started overheating even while moving. Once I got home I added some water to it and it took most of a gallon. I'm not sure if this particular incident is related to the overheats-when-stopped issue though since it seems that there's a leak somewhere, potentially. FWIW, There was a pretty bad hissing coming from it last night and it turns out that the radiator was pushing hard into the overflow tank. I believe that was because the radiator cap was bad which I replaced last night.

Thanks for the help on this, and sorry for the delay in responding.
Jake

 

Update... I just tested to make sure both fans are running. I started the engine cold, turned the AC on, and set the fan to 4 (highest). Both fans come on, but it appears that the condenser fan runs intermittently. It'll spin for ~5 seconds or so and then shut off for another 5-10 seconds, then come back on and the cycle continues. Is this normal behavior? Per redbull (and assuming that the intermittent fan is OK) this means that the fuses are good and that the relay should be too. However, if the fan should be running constantly then could this be a sign of the relay going bad?

I did try to jump the connector for the ECT switch. See the photo below and notice that the connector is actually gone (which is how it was when I got it, FWIW) and a couple of female blade connectors are there instead. I put the ignition to II (on) without the engine running and jumped those two wires, but neither fan came on. Just to be sure, I started the engine and then jumped them again but same problem: no fans. Should I be jumping the contacts on the ECT instead of jumping the wires where the connector is supposed to be?

Thanks,
Jake

 

If you jumped the two pin connector for the sensor under the distributor, never do that again. That feeds to the ECU and will not turn the fans on. The switch you want to jump is on the thermostat housing and has a green electrical connector.

Both fans should stay running with the a/c turned on. If the fan turns off, hit the motor with a screwdriver to see if it turns on. If it does, then you have a bad fan motor. This can cause your car to overheat while idling. It happened to me.

Since you had to put a gallon of water in the radiator, you likely have a leak. You can rent a radiator pressure tester from most parts stores and see if the radiator holds about 15 psi. If not, then you need to find the leak.

 

Hey John,

I genuinely appreciate you sticking with me on this. When I get time (hopefully this weekend) I'll try to jump the correct connector this time around.

I spoke with my sister (who I got the car from), and supposedly her ex replaced the fan motor at some point, but I don't know of any way I can confirm that (or confirm that he knew what he was doing if he did replace it).

I agree that it has a leak in the cooling system. My sister told me that she was in the habit of topping it off every so often and that she had to do it often enough that she stopped buying coolant and just used water (she's a single mom and has little to no money). She also speculated that the radiator needs to be replaced, but I haven't confirmed that either. I'll look into renting the pressure tester from the parts store. Can you point me toward some common failure points that I should check for coolant leaks?

As for my overheating-at-idle issue, it seems to be resolved (I hope). After adding the gallon of water to it the other day I did my best to burp the system by squeezing the upper radiator hose until I no longer got any bubbles. Yesterday my fiancee and I were driving back from dinner (about a 20 minute drive, mostly highway) and we stopped by the pharmacy drive-thru to pick up a prescription. We idled behind the guy in front of us for about 15 minutes and the temp gauge hovered around 40%, but never got above about 65-70%. When it did get to that 70%-ish range the fan would kick on and cool her back down to around 40% and the fan would shut off again. I still haven't seen any overheating issues since I added that gallon, but due to the probable leak I have a feeling it will start overheating again at some point. Based on this behavior, I'm inclined to think that the overheating-at-idle issue was just air in the system and that my sister's ex was unable to fix it because of the leak constantly letting air in. Again though, I have no way to confirm that this was his line of thinking in recommending that the radiator get replaced. Do you have thoughts on this?

Thanks again,
Jake

 

As Redbull stated in post #7 above you need to verify that the fans are working also air in then system will/can cause multiple issues.

It is easy to check if the fans are working. Turn the key to the ON position so the dash lights light up (don't start it), turn the cabin air **** on to high so it is blowing air at you and then push the A/C button so the green light comes on. Both fans should kick on.

If they don't then you know there is an issue in that circuit. If they do then bleed the air out of the coolant system.

The other potential problem if none of the above works is that the thermostat is installed incorrectly with the bleeder pin down, thus trapping an air pocket or even installed backwards.

Good luck.