Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Coolant light and weird reactions (not in search)

Hey guys
Well I am having all bad luck with my car.

My coolant light came on and stays on now whenever I drive the car. The temp gauge rises to the L in NORMAL and fans are working and it goes down to the A and then back up. It hasnt overheat yet but it is right on the border. NOW, what I couldnt find in the search was anything that matched my symptoms:
1.Temp gauge goes way up
2.Heat works when the temp gauge is way up but not very well when its normal.
3.Fans work
4.Coolant tank is full

So by the heat working when really hot, but not when normal, what would that be? I read in searches that the waterpump is failed if heat doesnt blow hot when overheating.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Appears that you are in the beginning stages of a wp failure. You have a 97 so you do not have the revised cream impeller. You have the black impeller which is prone to fail at early stages. How many miles are on the car? This is a well-known issue with the black impeller equipped vechicles (IIRC 97 and earlier). Do not drive the car at all. Get a wp w/a metallic impeller from your local autostore.

Could be a couple of things:

You stated that the "fanS" were working, but it could be that the high speed fan is working only. If the low speed fan is not working it will reach a higher temp, then high speeds come on, lowering it.. cycle, cycle, cycle.

Another is WP failure (or partial failure)

When replacing (25 minutes for the impellar half only..)

use a revised white plastic impellar or metal impellar.
(Some metal ones have had leaking problems around the shaft. yeah, I've seen a white one fail too, but I can count THOSE on one hand...

I would opt for the white impellar everytime.
~60 for a new impellar housing and belt/gasket. remove, clean the old gasket material off the car... apply new gasket and mate together... done.

top off with coolant mix, and enjoy.
(if this fixes your problem, you're done. If it is the same, then don't be discouraged, as you NEEDED to replace it, either way.. HAVE to.. lol)
then you can look at the low speed fan relay, or the connector may have come undone.

Ray

You don't need a "whole new" one, most likely.

You only need the impellar half.

(flat plate of metal, plastic fan on one side, metal pulley on the other)

Dealers, etc, will carry the white ones.

Autopart stores will most likely have the black one (still CAN be used, if you feel like changing it in 45,000 miles, again..)

and NAPA can get the metal ones..

The impellar piece should come with a gasket, as well. (I think it comes with a new BELT as well.. if not, get one. Replace it, while you are there.. all of 30 seconds more!)


Ray

If you do replace your water pump, remove thermostat and FLUSH your cooling system comletely. The upper hoses tend to degrade and the particles cause new waterpumps to leak around the weep hole. I replaced my water pump about 4 times due to leaking weep hole. Everything was fine after I throughly flushed my cooling system.

Bob