Okays this borrow-a-wreck that I'm driving while my TJ get's fixed is a 96 TE Altera 3 litre. Today in the middle of Blacktown I stopped cos she was overheating. I had only come a few klms after being parked for a hour or so, but the needle was in the red... Hmmm.... no obvious signs of leaks and plenty of (unfortunately plain) water in the radiator...

Anyways I deduced a stuck shut thermostat so I wandered off to a supercheap auto I could see in the distance hoping to get a new one. They didn't have one in stock and if they did they would be ninety-four dollars - yes $94.00. (I'll come back to this in a moment).

Anyway I went back to the car and did the old bush-basher trick of removing the old thermostat completely. Lo and behold, car runs okay now, though I think its seriously in need of a flush and some new hoses.

HOWEVER, the main fan is not cutting in at all, unless I turn on the aircon, which, as usual, runs both fans, so presumably I've managed to also cook a temperature sensor somewhere. Is the main fan run off a temp sensor - if so where is it and what am I looking for here?

PS: stopped at Phil Gilbert Mitsu in Homebush and got a Mitsu thermostat and some hoses - cost of the genuine thermostat? $24.48 plus GST. So much for 'SUPER'Cheap! Bleh!

I buy thermostat's for $12 dude, do you have any mates who work in a car place?

I buy thermostat's for $12 dude, do you have any mates who work in a car place?

well YOU next time...

BTW the Gregory's gave me a method to find out which and where the failed sensor is - so off to get that tomorrow. Fans tested out okay according to the diagnostic technique - its just a fried sensor.

well YOU next time...

BTW the Gregory's gave me a method to find out which and where the failed sensor is - so off to get that tomorrow. Fans tested out okay according to the diagnostic technique - its just a fried sensor.

No way in hell it would be $94...
3Ltr TE you say?
Im gonna check that tomorrow...No way on earth it would be $94

well YOU next time...

BTW the Gregory's gave me a method to find out which and where the failed sensor is - so off to get that tomorrow. Fans tested out okay according to the diagnostic technique - its just a fried sensor.
Have you checked the relay?

Rob

Have you checked the relay?

Rob

the fans are working - hence they come on with the aircon - therefore it can't be a relay - its definitely the engine temperature sensor.

Hmmm. Maybe a silly question, but seeing as you have removed the thermostat, is the car getting hot enough for the fan to cut in? What is the temp gauge in the car reading now?

Also, was the fan working before the car over-heated? Or was that maybe the reason it overheated in the first place? Were you in stop-start traffic at the time?

Okay most of your questions are answered if you read the first post, first paragraph. I rang the owner when I got home to try and determine how long its had plain water in it (as if occurred to me that I could have a cracked head as well - plain water being notorious for corroding heads on mixed metal engines). He was shocked that it only had water in it and confirmed it had always had coolant in it until a service about 3 weeks back.

The car is 10 years old, 191,000 klms and has a reconned radiator in it but original radiator hoses and thermostat from what I can determine. Its also been sitting around a lot down the coast undriven waiting to be sold - I've seen this happen to cars that sit around before - the thermostats give up.

Lastly - what was the temperature out West today? 25 degrees? I drove it from Blacktown to Rodd point with no thermostat and the temperature needle hovering around the 3/4 mark. I ran the aircon to make the fans go and stopped every few klms to pop the bonnet and look for obvious signs of overheating and by this stage I'd figured that the temperature sensors had died from the original overheat, so I wasn't trusting the gauge either. Certainly in my TJ the main fan would have been running in that heat on that sort of trip but though the radiator was getting nice and warm the fans would not run on the TE without the aircon.

At home - let it cool right down for couple of hours - started it up and the temp gauge instantly zooms to over half way - which is just not possible, ergo the gauge sensor IS crapped. Did the gregory's test (page 3-3) - pulled the wire off the engine temperature sensor, started from cold, fans zoomed away merrily. This they say confirms a faulty temperature sensor, so hence my end result!

Nice one - let us know how you get on.

Okay most of your questions are answered if you read the first post, first paragraph. I rang the owner when I got home to try and determine how long its had plain water in it (as if occurred to me that I could have a cracked head as well - plain water being notorious for corroding heads on mixed metal engines). He was shocked that it only had water in it and confirmed it had always had coolant in it until a service about 3 weeks back.

The car is 10 years old, 191,000 klms and has a reconned radiator in it but original radiator hoses and thermostat from what I can determine. Its also been sitting around a lot down the coast undriven waiting to be sold - I've seen this happen to cars that sit around before - the thermostats give up.

Lastly - what was the temperature out West today? 25 degrees? I drove it from Blacktown to Rodd point with no thermostat and the temperature needle hovering around the 3/4 mark. I ran the aircon to make the fans go and stopped every few klms to pop the bonnet and look for obvious signs of overheating and by this stage I'd figured that the temperature sensors had died from the original overheat, so I wasn't trusting the gauge either. Certainly in my TJ the main fan would have been running in that heat on that sort of trip but though the radiator was getting nice and warm the fans would not run on the TE without the aircon.

At home - let it cool right down for couple of hours - started it up and the temp gauge instantly zooms to over half way - which is just not possible, ergo the gauge sensor IS crapped. Did the gregory's test (page 3-3) - pulled the wire off the engine temperature sensor, started from cold, fans zoomed away merrily. This they say confirms a faulty temperature sensor, so hence my end result!

dont the temp gauges in all Te/Tf etc go straight to half way when you turn the key even when cold?

dont the temp gauges in all Te/Tf etc go straight to half way when you turn the key even when cold?


Upstairs for thinking boy...

Hm ok well just checked it out at Work and it came to $105 :s

']Hm ok well just checked it out at Work and it came to $105 :s

What is this thing - gold plated and diamond encrusted? That price is just stupid....

okay to finish off the saga - On Thursday I replaced the larger sensor (c $110) and the main fan started to work again as normal and as expected. On Friday the back-ordered smaller sensor (c $54) arrived, fitting that put the temp gauge back into normal operation. So all fixed now!