yea, thats what i was trying to figure out today if the fans were working or not. they would come on when the A/C was on but they wouldn't come on till it got almost to the 3rd notch when the A/C was off. i looked at the relays but im not sure how to tell if they were bad or not. i found the temp sensor under the throttle body but i also dont know how to tell if its bad or not. i might just try to find new relays and a new temp sensor and see if that helps at all.

 

all the relays in there are the same except the abs one so dont mess with that one. u can change the fan relay with one that u know is working. if the fan starts working right or whatever u changed it with starts messing up then u know that relay is bad.

 

My overheating problem is evident too now. Instead of starting a new thread I figured I'd just add to this one.

My 1996 Camaro 3.8 always operates approx first notch (180 I'm guessing) on the temperature gauge, but it's slowly climbing to half way (210 I'm guessing), once I'm on the highway it's fine and stays at first notch. But in idle or city driving/stop n go it climbs up to half way.
Now a bit of history, when I purchased the car I had a buyer's inspection done and was told it had "Mississippi Mud", and you could see the sludge even looking in the radiator. It was flushed out many times under warranty to remove it all. The water pump went out shortly after and I had that replaced by a Chevrolet dealer, so the water pump and Dex-Cool are about 4 years old/47,000 miles.
I look in the radiator now and there is some of the mud again on the radiator cap and in the spout of the radiator.

I'm wondering if the coolant needs changing, or even if the radiator should be replaced? I'd hate to flush it and then keep having this mud issue returning and causing issues down the road.

Any suggestions to help me with this issue?

 

its actually not cool to crash someone elses thread. u should start one with your issue. it will get responded to much better. thanks.

 

Hey yo I apologize, I didn't mean to step on anyone's thunder here.
I figured we were in the same boat with overheating, might even have the same issue, and as oppose to cluttering the message board with the same "overheating problem" thread, I'd chime in since we were on topic. Don't know what "crash" means, but thanks for the lesson in forum board politics. I sincerly mean that, and so much in fact, I decided to give you the courtesy of (mostly) proper grammar, punctuation, and that miracle button titled SHIFT.

 

no apology needed. i was just saying that u would get a more in depth analysis of your problem that way, butt i have not seen a new post in a while now so here u go. the cars usually run in the area of 200 degrees so u are within the range of normal. now if someone put a lower temp thermostat in it and had the prom reprogramed or added a chip to have the system run at 180 degrees then u may have an issue. cheapest starting point would be to make sure the fans are working and see what temp they are coming on. if they all check out then flush the coolant system and refill with a 50 50 mix of antifreeze. if u are worried about my use of capital letters,,,, thats life. my hands have been used for fishing for over thirty years now and my hands are not as flexible as they used to be, still strong enough to throw around 130 lb crab pots but not to agile. little fingers dont like to go over there to hit that button so i dont use it very often. are u a english teacher so somethin?

 

Have you bled the out of cooling system? Air builds up in these cars as radiator is below t- stat housing. Should have a screw on t-stat housing. Warm up car and shut off, then open, not remove, screw till pressure releases. Should have steam from screw. You will have to do this a couple times till water comes out of screw. Make sure t-stat is open at regular operating before you shut car off. Steam or air in coolant system will confuse fan switch and either make it run all the time or only when it is puking water.

 

i changed all the relays yesterday and it is still doing the same thing. i am going to change the temp sensor today and bleed to cooling system to see if that will help at all.

 

i changed the temp sensor and bled the cooling system and it got worse. on the highway it wants to over heat but i have to turn my heat all the way on just to keep it at about 220 degrees. i also changed the throttle positioning sensor today. nothing has done the trick yet and i dont know what to try next.

 

u can run a hot wire to the fans and put a switch on the dash somewhere to turn it on. they make kits for doing it somewhere. cant remember were though. if u want to keep looking then back track the wireing and test for juice. need to find out were the power makes it to. i think if u short the temp sensor it maxes the temp and the fans should come on.