Ive been noticing on my 99 2.3 CL that when I run the A/C it runs a little hotter than usual, and its begining to worry me. Last night I was parked in my car for about 3 hours and at one point I saw the temp gauge had gone up nearly three-quarters of the gauge, and once I turned the A/C off, the gauge started to dip. If anyone has had this problem any info would be great.

 

Did u check coolant first?
something like that happend to me one time and had to replace radiator

And what were you doing parked for 3 hours?

 

spending time with my girl(not having sex(, just spending good quality time...

 

sounds like a coolant issue. If that's not it, it's probably your thermostat.

 

flush the system...and no one spends 3 hours of "good quality time" with a woman, and doesent get any...work on your game slim.

 

I would check to see if the radiator fans are turning on when you use the A/C, then I'd probably do a complete flush/thermostat replacement. The temp gauge on my 3.0 never gets even halfway up... Same is true for 4 other 3.0's I test drove. Can't say about the 2.3, but still, anytime you notice a real difference in your temp gauge you should check it out.

Get on this right away.

 

This only happens when the car is still, once I start driving the gauge drops in between a 1/4 and half way.....

 

Then I'd definitely check for the fans not turning on. Moving car = moving air through the radiator.

 

will's got a point though. Check coolant levels, then if thats ok, look around on radiator itself for any cracks/leaks... if its starting to go bad, you really want to get on replacing it soon (I changed mine out after finding out it had a crack on the top... kept leaking fluids all in my e-bay

-Alex

 

also sitting for so long is bad for our cars...

water reaches a boiling point to where it will not cool any more, if you have more water than antifreeze/coolant the water prolly came pretty close to the boiling point. like wjk said flush the system and replace the thremostat.. it only costs like 8$. where do you live? higher elevations make a car run alittle warmer.

 

on my 2.2 when i start it up it takes at least 5 mins on a warm day to warm up. is that a problem at all or nothing to worry about. because ive never seen that in any other car ive driven or been in.

 

its fine, as long as it doesent over heat your fine. if you want to change the fluid and thermostat just because it cant hurt. its cheap and pretty damn important.

 

I checked the car last night, and I have anti-freeze. I ran the car last night for 25min, and the gauge stayed still at normal temp. Im thinking of doing the flush. And i even ran the A/C at full blast. Im going to do a tune-up this weekend.

 

Make sure the fans are turning. If you havent seen any signs of leakage, pretty obvious, (smell, steam) then I am willing to bet either your thermostat is stuck and not fully opening, or your secondary A/C fan has faulted. The fans are not that expensive. You can get one from a salvage at a reasonable price. Don't wait to deal with this. The ramifications of cooling system failure are more dramatic if you let it fester.

 

Yes. This really sounds like the A/C radiator fan isn't turning on. Could just be a loose connector. Still, it really sounds like a fan issue.

 

I think you guys maybe right. I know when I turned on the A/C one fan turned on. I cant remember which one it was, but I know only one was turning. Ill change the thermostat if I have the time tonight.

 

Both fans should be turning when the a/c is on. It automaticly cycles them with the compressor. If only one fan is turning, check the fuse pannel and then check the continuity of the fan relays to see if they are getting power. If the relay is bad, replace it. If the relay is good, disconnect the fan and apply power to the leads. If the fan does not turn, you have a bad fan motor. If it does turn, your relay is toast. Note, the relay may be getting power, but may not actually be closing the ciruit to activate the fan.

 

where is the fuel panel

 

huh? you mean fuse panel?

 

There are two fuse panels... one is above the kick plate on the far left of the driver side under the dash, the other is under the hood. The one under the hood is were you should start to look for a blown fan fuse.

 

Curious. What'd you find out?

 

sorry, got caught up in some things, and then last night was the Heat-Pistons game. What a freakin game...................maybe tonight.