wijiwang

when i don't rev my engine up my car overheats.. i wanted to get advice from the pro's

when i'm driving in city-traffic and have to stop at a light or when i'm coasting down my dirt road not giving my car any gas the thermostat needle will start to go up (usually sits a tad below halfway) and it will raise quickly.. when it's overheating, if i put my car in neutral and rev up the motor the needle will abruptly drop back down to where it should be, below the halfway mark..

i'm thinking of possibilities, so i checked under my hood and turned my ignition to ASCII (or right before i crank it so my fans come on).. both of my radiator fans come on.. the fan on the driver side is controlled by my 'condensor fan' fuse.. the fan on the passenger side is controlled by my 'cooling fan relay' and they both look like they are working correctly.. now sometimes when i turn my car off i will hear a 'whirring' noise from under my hood, could this be because of my cooling fan relay isn't operating correctly and causing my passenger side fan to slow down and start making noise? thinking it's not the fan motor itself that is going out cuz they were both spinning, fast, like they are supposed to..

has anyone else had this happen and know of what it might be.. honestly i can't really tell. for all i know my thermostat is not reading correctly, or is there a part between my fan relay and my thermostat that 'tell's the relay when to come on?

BTW its not my fluid levels.. its full. and i've replaced my radiator twice due to cracks where my transmission fluid goes.. but it's still in good working order.

*EDIT

I just let my car idle and when my thermostat needle started rising i checked under the hood and 'both' of my fans stopped spinning.. the condensor fan is not dependent on the cooling fan relay so that is not the problem.. possibly a temperature sensor? if so can it be fixed or have to be replaced? and where is it ? thanks!!!

any help would be appreciated thank yoU!!

cartuner

check your temperature gauge sensor. Should be on the distributor side on the head. It's a one wire sensor.

wijiwang

thanks.. someone told me to check my thermostat but my thermostat in my dash works.. (the one in a housing on my lower radiator hose i'd think)

wijiwang

i replaced my thermostat and it was working for a good day until it started overheating again..

i think now that my thermostat is working it caused my water pump to go out..