95 Saturn overheat question

[Shawn (archive)]

I let my Saturns temp guage go up to three quarters to see if the fan would cut in. It took a while, but it did. I shut off the car before it was finished cooling down. When I got out, there was coolant all over the ground.

I opened the hood, it it looks like it came from up around the reservoir. What caused this, and is this normal?

 

[Bob Shuman]

This depends on what transpired prior to the procedure you described. If you just topped off the coolant in the reservoir tank to the top, then, yes, what you describe is absolutely normal and to be expected. If you did not add any coolant, then you may have a problem.

As the coolant heats up, it expands, and at a certain pressure, is forced into the overflow reservoir. This is its primary purpose. As such, there are usually two lines on the tank: one that says "full cold" and another that says "full hot". When cold, do not overfill past the lower mark to give room for expansion.

If there is a problem, I'd try replacing the thermostat first. You may also want to buy a good radiator cleaner and run that through as well following all instructions, including the final rinse cycle with fresh water.

Good luck. It sounds like the sensors and fan are operating properly,

Bob