Hey everyone! First time user here. I have a question and I would appreciate anyone's help. I have a 96 Grand Am SE, 130,000 miles. It started overheating. My boyfriend wants to bypass the fan relay and temperature sending units. He wants to wire the coolinf directly to the ignition. He wants the fan to run at all times so that it won't overheat.
Is this a wise idea? He doesn't seem to want to check anything else, thus thinking this will end all the problems. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

He could do that if the fact that the overheating is from an inop.fan. If there is another cause of the overheating such as a thermostat, or a blockage in the system, bypassing the fan is not going to take care of the initial problem. Since the system is tied into the control systems of the car, you may end up doing more damage by putting a bandaid on the problem rather than getting to the real cause.

You say the car has 130,000 miles, has the coolant been changed? What is happening when the car overheats? Is it just the temp guage going up or does it plow steam?

Welocme to the forum, I'm sure you will get some more ideas about things to check so you don't compromise the operating systems of your car. Theres a lot of help here.

I would really suggest against any bypass, except for emergency or $$$ needs, like Hoag says ^^^.

The coolant temp. info also is fed into the ECM, and adjusts the fuel/air ratio, as well as a limp-home mode.