[Brox]

I have a 96 monte carlo, Been having some problems with my cooling system obviously lol.

But here's what I got. Been having a problem with when I idle for a bit at a time. Not really like red light idling. but if I idle for a while, like backed up line in the drive through. my low coolant light starts flashing, and my temp will go up.
Never too much above halfway but still not comforting.
I'll idle up and get going again the temp. will go down and eventually so will the light. Usually my temp. stays around.. 130-140 degrees prolly.

So I figured maybe it was not circulating too well so i changed my thermostat and flushed the coolant system. Everything started right back up now only the temp sets about 160 and fluctuates up to 180 (halfway) every once in a while and the low coolant light will come on at the smallest idle. but still never getting too close to overheating.

So I just got done changing my water pump and the temp. and now the temp. is at 140 and fluctuates up to 160 sometimes but everything seems cool except the low coolant light flashing when i idle it got up to around halfway when I let it sit for about ten minutes running.

So changed the thermostat and the water pump and flushed the coolant system. still having temp jump up when idling. Could it be the coolant level switch. but why would that make the temp. go up as well? I'm kinda at a lost now.

Does anyone have any ideas.

Sorry this was so long. Just frustrated

[me6894]

Where are you getting these numbers from? There's no way your temperature should be at 140 or 160 when warmed up.

First off, when the low coolant light comes on, did you check the coolant to see if its low? If its not low its probably just the low coolant sensor that's gunked up.

Your temperature should be around halfway on the gauge (200ish), and with a 180* tstat it will be just a bit lower, but will still creep up to the 200s if you don't have your fans set to turn on at 180*.

Basically if you don't have your fans set to turn on at 180 a 180 tstat is worthless.

[Brox]

Really thats the real numbers. Guage starts at 100 and ends at 260 and it used to always sit at like a quater of the way up. Never sat anywhere close to halfway. Used the stock thermostat temp... like 195 or sumthing close i think. And yea i did check the coolant for it being low. never is lol

[dkcz34]

"Basically if you don't have your fans set to turn on at 180 a 180 tstat is worthless."

Maybe I should know, but how do you do that?

[Dbl_D718]

dkcz34, on 03 April 2010 - 10:54 PM, said:

"Basically if you don't have your fans set to turn on at 180 a 180 tstat is worthless."

Maybe I should know, but how do you do that?

You need a tuner.

[Robb235]

Brox, is the coolant resevior low on fluid? If so, are you frequently having to add more? Check to make sure you don't have coolant leaking into the crankcase. These engines are notorious for having the Lower Intake Manifold (LIM) gaskets fail, allowing water to mix in with the oil. How many miles do you have on the car?

[kmfh95lumina]

I got 210xxx on my 95 3.1 lumina have same problem at drivethoughs but it clamed down a lot when I changed my coolant temp sensor and I'm still leaking at the water pump changing that in the morning bought a new one today but didn't have time anyway ima try that tuning my fans to turn at 180 but with 210xxx she's still runnin like a champ eating fords with half the miles

[kmfh95lumina]

kmfh95lumina, on 09 April 2010 - 08:23 PM, said:

I got 210xxx on my 95 3.1 lumina have same problem at drivethoughs but it clamed down a lot when I changed my coolant temp sensor and I'm still leaking at the water pump changing that in the morning bought a new one today but didn't have time anyway ima try that tuning my fans to turn at 180 but with 210xxx she's still runnin like a champ eating fords with half the miles

So pretty much what I'm saying is keep looking at little sh*t till you find the problem don't nessacaraly have to replace everything you look at I just like too I'm aiming for 350xxx before I swap out to a 3.4 or 3.8