I didnt bleed the engine properly after replacing the thermostat. redid it and still have problems. However its officially a gauge problem i think.

Fan: now works. or did while i was bleeding it this time. going to check again tomorrow.

When I was bleeding the engine registered a redline. but the fact that i was playing with the release valve proves it wasn't actually that hot. (would also explain why i didn't see any coolant flow or other cooling systems come on.)

Unhooked the temp sensor, (temp zeroed) grounded the wire that connect to the temp sensor and the engine redlined. So gauge and wires work. Faulty Temp sensor me thinks (odd I had just replaced that in Oct. when my car was always registering zero temp in the engine) so i think i just got a dud temp sensor from lordco in Oct.

So gonna get another one of those tomorrow. empty my coolant (for the 3rd time in 3 days) swap em out. refill the coolant, bleed properly. top off the Rad with water. Run it down the street (or till it redlines) pull over and at least see if the fans running. (maybe bring a bottle of water and a wrench to try and bleed the line a bit more?)

that all makes sense right?