Thread: How do I wire my coolings fan to stay on at ignition?

One more quick question, what are you running for a thermostat? 180 or 195?

You said cruising youre between 176 and 185. If you have a stock 195 stat, then its bad.

With a 195 stat, 212 is normal. The stat begins to open at the rated temperature and is fully open by 10-15 degrees above that, so a 195 is full open by 205-210. 212 is a tad high, but nothing to be alarmed about, especially if you are stressing the engine. Driving in the hills on a hot day or in stop and go traffic could easily heat you up enough to trigger the fans. If this car does not have a tranny cooler then your hot coolant is what cools the transmission. The transmission can throw even more heat, especially in the city.

As for the water pump, mine lasted 218,000 miles. Its entirely possible that yours is on the way out, i would recommend at least having it looked at, but with at 195 stat, your temps look normal. A failing pump kept me at 210 to 215 on the freeway with the AC on in 97 degree weather. AC didnt even affect it that much, just for kicks i opened the windows and cranked the heat, it was still hovering between 205 and 210, and I have a 180 stat(from previous owner).

Im not sure there is a whole lot you can do. If you took it to a dealer, they would tell you that its normal and move on. We are talking about a 5-10 degree difference in normal vs your temps. You could try a 180 thermostat, you would be fully open by 195. Most people on this forum agree that unless you are tuning for performance, than a 180 is unnecessary.

Is is possible for you to take a video of your gauge in action? If i could see how far it rises and how quick it drops, it might give me a better idea or your issue. I will be offline for a few hours, working 5a to 2p, will check back in later.

go for it.

Another thing now that we have the coolant elbow info. check to ensure that your coolant level is correct. If it's low, you may run warmer, I'd expect the fans to come on though.

One thing that many of us have done and like is to have the fane programmed down to the thermostat level. I have a 195F stat in my car and have my fan settings reprogrammed to come on at 200F and turn off at 198F or something like that. I hated seeing the temp spike when I pull off the highway.