Saturn cooling problem

I have a '98 Saturn wagon w/fuel-inj. The a/c compressor went out
about 2 mos. ago so we've limited the car to short trips. We just
noticed the water temp light turn on, but the temp guage never passed
the 12 o'clock mark. When I opened the hood to check for leaks, I
noticed the cooling fan never turned on. Cooling sensor failure?

Is this somehow connected to the a/c?
Thanks to all.

 

Could be the fan motor itself too. They're a wear item (due to the brushes
in them).

 

Coolant temperature sensors seem to be a common failure item on the Saturn
S-cars..

 

We just

Does the light stay on or does it blink? You may just have low coolant......

On 98s the gauge and the computer pull data off the same sensor, so if the
sensor is telling the computer the engine is too hot, the gauge should also
show it......

 

After reading another post about the fan turning on when the a/c was
also turned on, I thought I'd give it a try. Sure enough the cooling
fan kicked in. My wife drove it to work & had the a/c on & off on her
way (only 20 min.) She told the light never came on at all. Now I know
the fan works. So it looks like I'll be shopping for a sensor. Do I
have to get this at a dealer?

Thanks

 

I'd buy the sensor itself at the dealer.

The dealers have the brass replacement sensors. I've heard that aftermarket
shops (NAPA et. al.) still have the plastic.

It's relatively cheap.

Oh, you might want to pick up the connector at the dealer and replace it
while you're at it. When the sensors fail, they often leak which corrodes
the connector.

And, it's VERY hard to see the connector damage.

 

The temp light will blink, but the gauge barely moved. The coolant
reservoir would emit steam, and would be low on coolant. I'll refill
w/coolant, the light will stay off for about 1/2 hour, then start
blinking again. The steam would escape, and the process starts again.

Today because the a/c was turned on intermittantly (sp?), the fan
started up and cooled the engine. But only when the a/c was turned on.

 

(BANDIT2941) wrote in

Something else to check - did the needle creep up to 12 o'clock, or did it
start out at that position the moment the car was started? This position,
along with the coolant light, is used to indicate a sensor problem.

 

The dealers have the brass replacement sensors. I've heard that aftermarket

Then you must not have been paying attention to me

I got mine from NAPA, it was 2 years ago now, and it was the new brass style.
Total price was around $11.........

 

The temp light will blink, but the gauge barely moved. The coolant

Temp light blinking indicates low coolant........

 

Wife says it did creep up to 12 o'clock 2 days ago. Sorry. I thought it didn't.

 

If you're cute like me, unplug the clutch connector on the compressor.
That way you get the fan on but the compresor won't kick in - this
giving you a manually controlled fan to cool the car off, without the
a/c load (considerable)

 

If you're cute like me, unplug the clutch connector on the compressor.

Or you can just switch the AC on then right back off again, as once you turn
the fan on it stays on until its down to the 1/4 mark.

 

And it's important to replace them.

I ran my SL2 for thousands of miles and it never budged off the 1/4 mark,
then I noticed a boil over! There was no warning or indication of a
cracked bulb, and one can only guess how hot the engine got during the
thousands of miles and I never noticed (the SES light would come on
however).

The Saturn does not take heat that well either. I live in an area where it
can get in triple digits for long stretches, and the transmission acts up
routinely. I have to avoid running the car on hot summer days for fear
that the A/T won't go into the higher gear esp. during stop-n-go driving.

I also figured out that unless I run the A/C constantly, the engine fan
won't cool the engine off: I once did a test where the temp got up the 1/2
way mark, then kicked on the A/C blower and notice it come back down to
near to the 1/4 mark, never reaching it though. I am not sure if this is
any way to engineer a cooling system, is it?? I think temperature
fluctuations in the engine shorten its life immeasurably.

 

The engine cooling fan is usually designed to come on just before the yellow
or red line on the gauge. Those temperatures really should not do the engine
any harm. If the cooling fan can't keep the temperature out of the red zone
with the A/C off after it does come on, then it probably wouldn't have with
the fan running from the start anyway, and something else is wrong.

 

Actually, the Saturn S-series has an excellent cooling system (if properly
maintained) and will handle triple digit temperatures with no problems. If you
have to avoid using your car on hot days something is wrong with it.

All running the A/C does is add more heat to the cooling system. If the same
fan system cools your engine adequately with the A/C on, then it will cool it
even better with the A/C off.

You probably have a malfunctioning coolant sensor that signals the fans to turn
on when the A/C is off. You need to get that fixed rather than make vague
generalizations about "Saturns not taking heat well".

Alan King

 

Thoughts:

Common failures:

1) Coolant Temperature Sensor.
2) Radiator Fan (they ARE wear items - the DC motor on the radiator fan in
the Saturn uses brushes that simply wear out after a while).
3) Missing front dam - if it's missing, air flow is all wrong.