Rishodi
CEG'er
This is the latest chapter of my adventures with the CSVT. Last night I was driving to pick up a friend when suddenly I noticed that my temp gauge had gone all the way to the right, so that it was almost horizontal. I immediately turned the heat on full, which brought the gauge back down to the normal range in a matter of seconds, and pulled over to turn the car off as soon as I could. I popped the hood to check the coolant, and it appeared fine. I couldn't find any leaks, and it seemed to be at the same level I had last filled it up to. I didn't notice anything else unusual. I dropped my friend off and started to go back to my place when the gauge went up again - with the heater still on - and stayed that way. I pulled over again and popped the hood for a few minutes to let the engine cool before driving the last couple of miles back to my apartment. At this point the gauge was still on the hot side, but not as far right as it had been when I first noticed an hour or so before.
Now, I'm not too familiar with the coolant system, but if I remember correctly, if the water pump was broken then the heat would not work. The heat works as well as it always has, so that's out. The first thing we did this morning was replace the thermostat, which was the first suspected culprit. However, we tested the old one by putting it in boiling water and it seemed to work just fine. As of this morning there are a couple new leads. First of all, the temp gauge is stuck at about the same point it was last night when I pulled in and turned the car off. It didn't move even though the car had been sitting all night long. Secondly, the radiator fan may not be working. I let the car idle for a while to see if it would turn on, and though I could hear a click that I assumed to be the fan relay, I never heard the familiar whir of the fan. I drove the car around town for a few minutes to see if the gauge would move at all, and unlike last night, it didn't.
Note that this entire time, there have been no obvious signs of overheating. No boiling or overflowing fluid in the coolant reservoir, no odd smells, no smoke, nothing. I could only assume that the engine was overheating because the temp gauge said so before it died. While driving around this morning, the engine warmed up enough to put out hot air through the vents, but it was no hotter than usual. Afterwards I checked under the hood again, and still everything appears to be fine. To err on the side of caution, I won't be driving it until I get this problem figured out.
So at this point I have two main thoughts: First, I either have a bad gauge or a bad sensor, since as of this morning the temp gauge is obviously no longer working. Secondly, I might also need to replace the fan, which hasn't been turning on as far as I can tell, even when the car is sitting still idling. Since the most experience I've had with the coolant systems on these cars to date is doing a flush, I figured it couldn't hurt to see if anyone here had any useful input. Thanks to all in advance.
Now, I'm not too familiar with the coolant system, but if I remember correctly, if the water pump was broken then the heat would not work. The heat works as well as it always has, so that's out. The first thing we did this morning was replace the thermostat, which was the first suspected culprit. However, we tested the old one by putting it in boiling water and it seemed to work just fine. As of this morning there are a couple new leads. First of all, the temp gauge is stuck at about the same point it was last night when I pulled in and turned the car off. It didn't move even though the car had been sitting all night long. Secondly, the radiator fan may not be working. I let the car idle for a while to see if it would turn on, and though I could hear a click that I assumed to be the fan relay, I never heard the familiar whir of the fan. I drove the car around town for a few minutes to see if the gauge would move at all, and unlike last night, it didn't.
Note that this entire time, there have been no obvious signs of overheating. No boiling or overflowing fluid in the coolant reservoir, no odd smells, no smoke, nothing. I could only assume that the engine was overheating because the temp gauge said so before it died. While driving around this morning, the engine warmed up enough to put out hot air through the vents, but it was no hotter than usual. Afterwards I checked under the hood again, and still everything appears to be fine. To err on the side of caution, I won't be driving it until I get this problem figured out.
So at this point I have two main thoughts: First, I either have a bad gauge or a bad sensor, since as of this morning the temp gauge is obviously no longer working. Secondly, I might also need to replace the fan, which hasn't been turning on as far as I can tell, even when the car is sitting still idling. Since the most experience I've had with the coolant systems on these cars to date is doing a flush, I figured it couldn't hurt to see if anyone here had any useful input. Thanks to all in advance.