Yesterday the Wash DC area hit a new record high of 85. That all said, after making a brief stop mid-afternoon, shutting down the engine (max 10 mintues) and restarting, the engine seemed to stumble/run rough when backing out of the parking slot. Had to hit the gas to get it to smooth out. No Codes were thrown on the Odometer and no CEL indication. The temp gauge as always, was mid-range (it never varies more than an 1/8" when up to temp, summer or winter). The Temp Gauge as everyone knows is just a 'placater' and gives no indication of engine overheat or higher temp, until it is possibly to late.

I have never heard the cooling fans running (when the engine has just been shut down) or seen them turning (with engine running and the hood open) when the engine was at or seemed to be above normal operating temp.

Is there a handy power source in the engine bay that can be jumped to provide power to the fans, to see if they will spin up? Is there anyway to check the thermostatic controls to the fans, to see if they are working and within temp limits?

Would hate to fry the engine because of the Temp Gauge and/or the cooling fans not working.

 

Get a 100 ohm resistor at Radio Shack for a buck or so. Unplug the coolant temperature sensor (grey 2 pin connector on coolant pipe). Place the resistor across the 2-pins on the connector on the harness. This will simulate an overheat condition to the ECU...you will see a warning in the car and the fans should turn on. Ths is better than just testing the fans because it checks the whole system (except the sensor). If the gauge rises normally during warmup, the sensor is likely fine.

Keep an eye on my website...I will have a module that will convert the gauges to read real data available this spring.

 

All right. Now I know what I will be doing tomorrow, so that I can golf on Sunday with some peace of mind. Will be waiting on your Gauge Mod, sign me up.

Have you ever thought of a simple mod to have the front and rear side markers (not the Leapster behind the wheel cutout) flash in unision (sp?) with the turn signals?