ok here is the current situation.
I removed the bumper and cleaned the radiators. I then loosened the AC rads and WOW. How can so much crap get in between the two? So cleaned that out.
Cleaned the center rad by removing the rubber tunnel, LOTS of stuff in there as well.
I checked the fuses, and the relays with the multimeter, all check out fine. I did not know how to check the resistors so I left them alone.
Then with the bumper off I drove around. Temp went to 200 max.
I put it all back together and then drove, The temp went up to 217. Still the needle on the dash is not past the 0 in 180. AND NO FANS!! aside from the engine compartment fan.
So I flushed the system. Incidentally the stuff that came out was not green or red, it was almost pure water with the slightest amount of green. This is the Original fluids from the dealer when I got the car new in 2002, 65000 miles ago.
So on the hunt I go for antifreeze, in my small town, nobody had any of the approved fluids, so I in austin I found only the texaco extended kind, and it is on the list of OK fluids.
I put in 3 gallons of texaco and 1.5 of water for a 60ish/40ish ratio.
Then drove around in 93F sun and the temp still went up, but only to 207.
So I guess that this is it. Aside from a new pump or T-Stat, I am at a loss. Maybe it is normal??? Does anyone else have a OBDII real-time scanner that can report normal operation temps??
One person posted that his needle never goes past the 0 in 180, well neither does mine and the highest temp I have seen lately was 221. The dash gague is horriable.
That is almost to the boiling point of a 50/50 mix antifreeze!!!! and still no fans.
