Quote:
Originally Posted by Euro7R
The radiator fan kicks in and spins when the a/c is turned on. When the a/c is off, the radiator fans don't spin. In what other circumstances does the radiator fan starts spinning? If the a/c is never used, the radiator fans never turn on? How does the engine cool itself?
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It comes on again when the coolant temp hits a certain level, and it's higher than you would expect. On mine, it lets the coolant temp get up to around 210° before it kicks on again. When the A/C is on, I usually run between 190° and 195°.
The temp gauge on the dash will show the needle in the same place either way, because it's not really a temp gauge. It's merely an indicator that acts like a temp gauge. When the car is warming up, the needle will be below the "normal" line. Once it gets to the normal line, it will stay in that same spot as long as the temp is within the "normal" range, which apparently varies as much as 25°. It doesn't move above that line until you start overheating. It's basically an idiot light made to look like a gauge.
I hate idiot lights (or in this instance, an idiot gauge), so I run Torque and monitor the coolant temp as one of my Torque gauges. I had been running the A/C all last summer and was used to seeing my temp around 190°. On the first cool day in the fall, I turned it off and saw my coolant temp shoot up to 210°. I thought something was wrong with the car and took it in for service. Everything tested fine.
A 20° swing in coolant temp seems nuts to me, but apparently that's normal behavior for this car. If you're playing the That's Normal drinking game, time to drink up. I did note also that the oil temp seems unaffected by that swing in coolant temp, so it doesn't seem to be cooking the motor. So I suppose you can trust the idiot gauge to do its job, and as long as it's showing normal, not worry about it.