dogz46

well here we go again. 97 malibu 3.1 LS. my fans wont turn on even at almost redline,then the rad starts to steam. the fuses are good dont know about the relays,arent they supposed to click or something?connections and wiring look good,could it be the cooliant sensor? antifreeze is full and theres plenty of heat inside. thanks again.

313hitman

either the fans are bad or the relay is fried. try to jump the relay and see if it clicks or just simply replace it. also never let the car heat up to the redline.. you got lucky that nothing happened to the motor.

dogz46

how do you jump the relay?

dogz46

ok now i warm it up to halfway and unplug the fan switch in the thermostat housing,on comes the fans full blast,i plug it back on they stay on but the gauge is back down and stays there(all the way down to cold),i turn it off come in for a coffee ,go back out start it the fans are on low,takes a bit to get back up to a bit past half,still no high fan. is it the fan switch??

313hitman

cant really tell... just replace the relay. they dont cost that much.

golfer

It's kind of pointing toward the temp sender.

dogz46

weres the sending unit? besides the one on the thermostat housing theres one down below the block heater under the rear exhaust manifold,its in the block not the oilpan it also has 2 wires yellow&black same as the first one and they both end up in the big plug by the coilpack. if the thermostat was stuck shut would it act this way? the top rad hose gets warm but i dont feel or hear fluid in it,when i squeeze it the fluid in the resevior goes up and thats with the engine hot. got to figure this out soon its getting cold here in northern ont. im hoping it isnt the thermostat and i havn,t taken it out yet because its a pain in the *** being tucked in there behind the crossover pipe . thanks again.