as a followup to keith's question....it is not at all unusual for the temp gauge to hit the bottom of the red before the engine cooling fan kicks in. Let it idle in the driveway and watch the gauge and watch the fan (hood up). Fan should kick in and cool down to a bit below half mark.

If not, it will of course truly overheat.

I suspect you are turning on the A/C to engage the fan before the temp sensor reading commands the fan to turn on.

This can be unnerving for first time saturn owners--but it's "normal" behavior for s-cars.

 

Thanks y'all. It got up to the halfway mark without turning on while I was at the bank drive up (on a warmish day), and that spooked me. Then, DH changed out the sensor and ran it, still went halfway and no fan activation. For us, that's a bit scary (yep, first time Saturn owners) since we're used to a car keeping the temp @ 3/8 on the gauge.

It hasn't overheated on me, and I would doubt it has before for others - it just doesn't run like a chronic issue car and when going down the road, the most it's warmed up to on the gauge is 1/4 so I know the thermostat is working and the water/antifreeze is circulating well. Once it's warm enough to actually stand outside for a bit, I'll have DH watch for the fan to kick in. If it goes over 1/2, when do I need to worry on these? Both of us are gauge watchers, and I'm just a bit OCD about where everything is supposed to run!

 

My 95 SC2 does not kick in the fan until right below the red. Seems scary but that's the way they work. remember the gauge is approximate and it is run off a different temp sensor (the single wire one) than the one sending interfaced to the PCM.

So to overcome the temp gauge OCD
1) It will usually run somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 during normal driving. Mine runs a little below half. Seems pretty low at 1/4.....may need to address, may not.
2) Watching ir cycle as I described above is the only way to gain confidence that the fan WILL kick on when it needs to. At a much higher temp gauge reading than your past vehicles. That's just how it is.

 

In my Saturn, the temp gauge needle usually was at 40% of scale or two needle widths above the 1/4 mark. During one trip out west when it was unusually hot, it would get up to two needle widths above the halfway mark, the fan never came on if the Ac was off. But of course, I did not turn off the AC except to check this.

 

well, rather interesting indeed. My 97 SC2 does pretty much the same as I described above, except it does run at about 3/8 , but gets pretty high on the gauge nearing the red before the fan kicks in.

I have personally replaced both sensors and connectors with GM parts.
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Hey folks -- please chime in on normal temp gauge reading and gauge reading at which fan comes on

 

Hey Guys, I appreciate all y'all's input on this and will pass it on to DH. My Exploder usually runs right about 1/2 way on the gauge, but that's the only vehicle I've ever had that normally sets that far up. We'll be keeping an eye on it, like we always do with a new-to-us ride, and if I am sitting still and get spooked, I know I can always do the a/c workaround. I would be interested to hear the others chime in on where their gauges typically set as well.

I've noticed it likes warm weather better than cold as far as the mpg goes! This cold snap has dropped me down a few on the bragging scale. Of course, any other vehicle I've had has also been partial to pretty weather, with the old '78 C15 we had being the most cold blooded. I'm really enjoying the 30+ mpg with this and will be keeping track of my mileage to make sure we're running the best we can.

 

Both of the SC's I've owned ran that way on the temp gauges too, Ginny. One was the SOHC 1.9 and one was the DOHC 1.9. The 2.2 in the LW 200 wagon doesn't do that. It runs about half-way on the gauge or a little below.

 

I'll have to check with our friend in Hotlanta (who got me hunting the Saturns to begin with since his has done so well!) to see where his sets. He has an SL2.