Basically, what is happening is that the engine starts going towards the direction of hotter generally ONLY when gas is applied.
BACKGROUND NOTES:
a) 1990 2.2 litre 4 cyl with 263,000 miles original to car.
b) The fan, apparently does not work. But i don't think this is nessesarily the problem as we will see below.
c) i noticed that the plastic overflow tank is leaking when the engine is running and after you shut it off. It's not coming out of the small, rubber overflow tube either----i'm pretty sure it's the actual tank. It leaked at least 2-4 pints yesterday.
1) Starting from just yesterday. The car ran hotter than normal-----about 220 and maybe a few degrees hotter when moving above speeds of 45mph. So, right there i don't think the fan is really the problem.
2) At idle it seems ok. But AS SOON(as if the car is possesed or something) as you give it gas the temp gauge immediately starts moving up to 220+. And then AS SOON as you let off the gas the temp needle moves back to normal. We are only talking about 1500 rpms here. More rpm generally has the same effect. Also, i did not want to go past 220 degrees although i'm sure if i had kept on the gas, it would have gone past 220.
3) When you get to traffic lights, it would get really, really dangerously close to overheat hot. i turned the heater on full blast and that seemed to help. i also put it in neutral and revved the engine to about 1500-2000 because i always heard you should do that if the engine starts to get hot. But thinking back about it, in this particular case, it may have been better to just let it idle normally?
Also, at home i turned the A/C on, but the fan didn't move at all. And during the 220 idle experiments, the fan did not move either.
Kind of stumped.
Umm the fan should come on with the AC and thats normal operation.Being it's not I would say either the relay is bad or the fan is bad and you would need to replace it,I would replace the fan relay 1st and if the fan does not come on,check for power at the wiring to ensure power going to it,b4 buying a new fan.The higher temps means you need to one flush the cooling system,two buy a NEW thermostat and if ur upper and lower hoses are more than 4 yrs old replace them,regardless of appearance bc they can fail or buckle or deform under temps and prevent proper cooling.Ur temps changes means the thermostat is going, and u should do the coolant flush,new hoses and therm and this will resolve the temp changes!I would repl the fan relay as stated 1st and then check to see if the fan works with the AC on if not the fan is done.Thats my recommendation.
The flush idea sounds good as i don't think the system has been flushed since i put in a new radiator 3.5/4 yrs ago. Also, can i get the relay at any parts store or do i have to go to the dealer?
OK, so now i have to ask (after doing some research on the net) what is the best way to flush?
Apparently, there are other ways to flush besides the Prestone kit thing where you tap into the heater hose. This is/was the way i was always accustomed to.
But i noticed, among other methods, that there is a flush solution where you drain the existing coolant, pour the "flush solution" into the radiator, run the car for 10 mins, drain, and replace with new coolant.
Other methods say to run the car while you have a garden hose into the top of the radiator.
Which method do you think is the best.
Simple solution.Drain coolant ( run car for about 10 min to open therm) then drain system add the bottle for prestones coolant flush or what ever brand u buy add water to fill system.I put cardboard in front of the radiator to make the eng warm up to norm temp then cut off car then drain system.Now fill system with just WATER and run for 10-15 minutes and then drain again this helps remove the residue from the flush and let it drain for at leat 20 minutes or better,and NOTE make sure when u are running the car have the heat ON,fan on HIGH and do this in both steps.Now once u have used the flush and drained,and use just water to remove flush and residue from that ,then the final step is to add coolant u want a 50/50 mix water to antifreeze but,consider the climate u are in bc u may want more anitifreeze than water to make ur below zero lower or closer to 0 degrees.I normally add one gallon antifreeze and top off with water in my area.I am not sure how much ur radiator holds quantity wise so,buy 1 gall antifreeze more than enuff for ur car,add most of that and top off with water ,let the car run 15-20 minutes heat on with the fan on high and that makes the thermostat open and circulate into the heater core and you should recheck the resevoir and radiator once cooled for awhile and buy a antifreeze/water tool(plastic and basically checks the degree of ur protection in degrees) most auto stores sell these.If any more ?s just ask I will keep tabs on the post.The tool I talked about just measures the ethenol glycol to water ratio like -30 degrees or 0 degrees etc.Hope this makes sense.
