Coolant temp gremlins.....

[daveimme]

'Nuther note...wife took the 944 to visit her parents for the weekend (Bogalusa - 90 miles) today, and as she was just out of covington on hwy 21, she *noticed* (in asterisks, because I've begged and pleaded with her to monitor the gages) that the temp was in the yellow....

I know when it gets real hot (like down here) and after getting into traffic after riding at highway speeds for an hour, the temp will rise, and if I'm driving, I would roll windows down and turn ac off til speed picks up again, but she didn't. So she paged me on her cell and I was visiting my mechanic at the time, so he called for me (I'm deaf in case y'all forgot), and we told her to leave key on, car off so the fan would bring temp down....after about 10 mins came down enough, so told her to run it, ac off, and drive....and if temp goes below halfway mark, then run the ac, but keep an eye on it. Worked out allright and she got to her parents just fine.

Second thing.....calibrating the temp gauge....how? I am going to memphis next week (was gonna change tie rods, but can't afford it now) to visit my buddy and have him do some general maintenance to be sure all is in good working order (repack all wheel bearings, etc) and would like to calibrate the temp gauge if there is a way. Also on my car, I notice that whenever I turn on the lights (parking/fog and/or headlight) the temp needle moves up a little, so I wonder how to knock that off, though I know it doesn't make it hotter, but it is annoying.... I did put in lower thermostat and lower temp thermoswitch...what else can I do to keep it cooler? On normal days, if I don't run the ac, the temp gauge is at about the 10:00 position (good) and sometimes jumps up a little and if I bang the dash on top of it, it goes down a little (I do that when I suspect it is higher than it should). Again, it's annoying....

Any tips here???

[Roger Hall]

Clean the grounds behind the instrument pannel and that should get rid of the jumping guage. As for the rising temp it could be alot of things. On my 924 the temp sensor is located on th back of the head but there is no way to calibrate it. I had a similar problem and I belive the temp switch was failing intermitenly, however if the A/C was running when the temp went up you probably have a different problem. I would check, replace, and bleed the coolant. Also check for leaks, and test the relay.

[drew1]

daveimme,

My mother was from Lacombe & still have kin folks in the area.

I would check & see if you have air trapped in the coolant in the motor. Bleed it by cranking up, letting it run until thermostat opens (when radiator hose is heated by circulating water it is open). Open up the heater valve so air won't stay in there & get back in the motor. Loosen that bolt on the hose neck on the front of the motor & you'll get air, bubbles , or coolant. Leave it open untill you get just coolant. Be careful not to run your resovoir tank dry while you are doing it or you get more air.

Have you had the timing belts done lately? Water pump is driven off the back of the belt & if pump is leaking or oil leaks getting on belt could make it slip.


drew1

[Pike]

_ The Gauge should not need 'calibrating' per say. The temp should run up to a point and stay there. outside temp should be change the leval a little, but major variations should not occur. My gauges are slightly affected by turning on or off other electrics, but I still know when something goes 'wrong' with the Temp.

_ Here is a related question for Roger. Gas and Temp gauges are jumpy sometimes, with the needle flicking around. Is this more of "The Curse of the 924 Ground?" Or should I look elsewhere?

[Roger Hall]

Originally posted by Pike
_ The Gauge should not need 'calibrating' per say. The temp should run up to a point and stay there. outside temp should be change the leval a little, but major variations should not occur. My gauges are slightly affected by turning on or off other electrics, but I still know when something goes 'wrong' with the Temp.

_ Here is a related question for Roger. Gas and Temp gauges are jumpy sometimes, with the needle flicking around. Is this more of "The Curse of the 924 Ground?" Or should I look elsewhere?

Yes it is your grounds. Under the dash behind the fuse/relay panel is one or two round connectors with a bunch of brown wires connected to them. If you clean them and the conector that attaches to the back of the guage I bet your problem will be fixed.

[daveimme]

Well, wife got back into town last night around 7 (still daylight) and the temp was over at 3/4 (of course, she had a/c on). So, I popped hood and played some hoop with the boys while it cooled. 20 mins later got to it, cranked up and it was at the 1/4th mark, no fan on......temp went up to just past midway (normally, not real quick) before fan kicked in. Prior to that, no fan on at all. I could see it was cooling a little....*but* then I flicked on the a/c, and while it cooled the interior, the other fan did NOT come on.

This morning, had to hurry to drop off one of the boys at football practice, and forgot to check coolant level (being cold), just to be safe.....and drove off....traffic was a little slow on the interstate and though, I did not use the a/c, the temp went up to 3/4th, and I think the fan came on (I'm deaf, but think felt it), and after traffic picked up got back down to about the 10:00 position, which has been the normal position.

So, what do I look at? Did the fan die? Can someone tell me where to look to troubleshoot?