Hello, I have a 95 olds as you can tell and for some odd reason the temp needle in the dash reads up to but not in the red. So I thought maybe it was the thermostat sensor, changed that out, no change. I have done a radiator flush, I changed thermostat, replaced the water pump and it is still causing the problem of getting hot but not overheating. I don't know what to do now, the water pump isn't making any noise, the fans in front of the radiator come on, the top radiator hose is not too firm but not too squishy. I am so flustered right now, can anyone help me, please:runaround:

Welcome to AF.

Hard to say since you didnt mention your engine, mileage etcetc.

OH and do not bring up threads older then 3 months!
All those you brought up, are now closed, and you duplicate posts on this have been deleted.

Sorry about that, this my first ever forum. Anyhow, my Olds. is a 3.1 V6 with 110k. After I placed the threads, I went out to my car and looked over it one more time, I'm stumped and sctratching my head wondering if God hates me. Please, if you need more information, let me know. Thanks :smokin:

I seen your post in another thread, and you said the car is running at 200 degrees? Does your guage have the numbers? like 100 200 and so on. Also you want to check/replace the Temperature Sender, its behind the engine, near the Oxygen sensor, and it tells the fans to kick on. Also there is another sensor near the throttle, which is the for the guage inside. So it might be your guage sensor.

Sorry about that, this my first ever forum. Anyhow, my Olds. is a 3.1 V6 with 110k. After I placed the threads, I went out to my car and looked over it one more time, I'm stumped and sctratching my head wondering if God hates me. Please, if you need more information, let me know. Thanks :smokin:

Thats Ok and I understand.

I dont know about God hating you, but I would say its quite possible you have either a head gasket or lower intake gasket goin out. The LI is pretty common, if left unattended it can damage the head gaskets and or the engine.

Any white stuff in the oil ?
Coolant look funny ?

If you just flushed the radiator you might not have gotten the whole system cleaned. If they are realy nasty it can take tow or more flushes to clear the system.

I seen your post in another thread, and you said the car is running at 200 degrees? Does your guage have the numbers? like 100 200 and so on. Also you want to check/replace the Temperature Sender, its behind the engine, near the Oxygen sensor, and it tells the fans to kick on. Also there is another sensor near the throttle, which is the for the guage inside. So it might be your guage sensor

I would disagreee with that! :nono:
His temp sending unit in at the end of the top radiator hose, in the intake.
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c242/xeroinfinity/11X17RW24/tempsensor.jpg

95CutlassSupremeSL, 200 deg can be normal running temp, for years my 99 GA SE ran at 200deg(maybe up to 205 deg at traffic lights during the summer) with practicly new everthing gaskets and heads/intakes.
I changed the thermostat to a lower temp, 185 deg, and now it runs lower.
The problem is, during the winter the heater doesn't blow as Hot when on high heat.
So I just cover part of the radiator with cardboard when it's 30 deg out or below, constantly.
You just have to remember to remove it when it warms up, or it could overheat. :eek:

Hope that helps

@xeroinfinity Well I know for a fact that the Temperature Sender for the fans near the Oxygen sensor kicks the fans on, only because my fans would not come on, unless my A/C was running. And because I had replaced the other Temp sensor near the throttle body/thermostat, and they still refused to kick on. If im wrong then my 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass supreme SL must be different from the other's.

I've seen on many sites, these two sensor's are almost or sometimes sold as under the same name, and until I actually found the one near the 02 Oxygen sensor, my fans refused to come on.

EDIT: To make more sense of what I'm saying, The Temperature sensor near the throttle body has Yellow and Black wire. The one near the O2 Oxygen sensor has only a single light green wire, and it is a Temperature sendor/switch.

Here is the picture of the Yellow/Black wire Temp sensor:
http://www.partsamerica.com/product_images/aap/gps/gps_tsu81_full.jpg

Here is the picture of the Single Green Wire Temp sender/switch:
http://www.partsamerica.com/product_images/aap/gps/gps_tsu126_full.jpg


@95CutlassSupremeSL Also make sure there is no AIR in the cooling system, this will cause your tempature to rise quickly!

Links in the post above that did not work, were edited to show pic. :grinyes:

Thanks for replying back guys

Dastardly: I am not exactly sure if the car is running at 200 degrees or not, the guage looks like the one below but its not from my car, the temprature needle goes all the way up to but not into the red. It takes about 15 minutes in weather condidtions consisting of 40 to 60 degrees to get that warm. How would I clear the air bubbles out of the coolant jackets? And how do I know if there is any?
http://www.bba-reman.com/images/lexus_ls400_cluster.jpg

Xeroinfinity: I just went out and looked at the coolant and the oil, no white stuff in the oil and the color of the coolant is the Dex-cool orange.


Both: I'm going to try and change out the temprature sender near the O2 sensor and see if that works. Just curious but do you guys know of where the O2 sensor is exactly? Ill probably get another radiator flush, have you guys ever heard of a power flush? If none of this stuff works, any of yall got a sledge hammer that I could borrow. And thanks for being helpful guys :)

Thanks for replying back guys

Dastardly: I am not exactly sure if the car is running at 200 degrees or not, the guage looks like the one below but its not from my car, the temprature needle goes all the way up to but not into the red. It takes about 15 minutes in weather condidtions consisting of 40 to 60 degrees to get that warm. How would I clear the air bubbles out of the coolant jackets? And how do I know if there is any?


Both: I'm going to try and change out the temprature sender near the O2 sensor and see if that works. Just curious but do you guys know of where the O2 sensor is exactly? Ill probably get another radiator flush, have you guys ever heard of a power flush? If none of this stuff works, any of yall got a sledge hammer that I could borrow. And thanks for being helpful guys :)


Here is a picture showing where the bleeder valve is http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/61e67956f0.jpg

Start the car up, let it warm up, then take a flat head screwdriver and slowly unscrew the bleeder valve. Don't unscrew it much. If there is air in the system, you should see the fluid coming out with bubbles, and if no air then it will come out in a small stream. If there is air, wait till you see a stream of fluid, then tighten back. Just be careful while doing this.

As I said before, the Temperature sender near the O2 oxygen sensor tell the fans to come on, so if your fans are coming on, that shouldn't be the issue.

And the one near the thermostat/throttle body, is for the guage. Possibly that is bad.

As I said in above posts, this is how the sensors work in my car. No one has to take my word for it, nor listen to me lol. You can research the two sensors more on google, or call your mechanic.

Dastardly, I have a 95 right here, right now, I'll take some pics to see how its laid out.....

http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d800e5644.gif

95CutlassSupremeSL the O2 is behind by the fire wall its in the exhaust manifold.

I wouldnt just replace the ECT, you can test it to see if its realy bad or not. Try this link (http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/0e/56/40/0900823d800e5640/repairInfoPages.htm)for test procedures.

Also the bleeder valve is on top of the water pump, black tube brass fitting. You can do it from the thermo housing but it wont get it all out! :thumbsup:
Here's a link to help with that also....
Bleeding Your Cooling System (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=718130)

Also here is a pic (http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d800e5758.gif) of the engine components locations.
As you see thier are is not 2 temp senders(ECT).

I'll try post a few pics this after noon. :grinyes:

If the car has a gage in the IC cluster, it has the one wire temp sensor in addition to the two wire sensor used by the ECU.

Just to show what my guage looks like, (this is from my cars user manual), and I have drawn arrows with destcriptions on how my cooling works. I know this is not how the 95 and up Cutlasses Temp gauges look, but incase anyone has doubts about their cooling.
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7391/coolingtempdiagramyj8.png

You are right HotZ28 it is for the gauge.
I didnt have time to get a pic, its pretty well hidden back thier thats for sure.

Yeah Dastardly, that's what I was saying his temps are with in normal range, and its not impossible to buy a new thermostat and it not work properly.

So if its not broke, dont fix it. :D

Evening or whatever,

I changed out the temprature sensor and temprature sender, including the relay's for the fans just in case. Sadly, none of those changes made any difference, just worse. Now it runs in the red, so I started freaking out, I pulled the car over, opened the hood, no steam nothing, not a rush of warm air when I opened the hood, nothing. I was thankful, but I got curious, I put my hand lightly on top of the head, it was barely warm. Just to be precautious I let the car cool down, luckily I was close to base, so it didnt take long to get back to work. I drove my car back to my shop (I'm a generator mechanic, new to it) I found a temprature gauge, one of those that you stick in a turkey or something, it was rated at 300 degrees. I stuck it in the side of radiator fins (now I know I won't get the best reading) and turned the car on, I let it run until the needle on the dash got up the red, I checked the temprature gauge, guess what, 200!!! I was shocked, if it was overheating or as hot as the guage in my dash said then it would be passed 250, right? I took it to a radiator shop, the radiator dude looked it over for about 15-20 mintues, he told that the car seems to be running perfectly normal, I asked him 3 or 4 times are you sure. He was sure, I had driven it for 45 minutes just to get it to this place, so if it definitely didnt overheat, then? He suggested it may be something electricl from the ECM or ECU to the dash. What do you guys think? Any suggestions? I will try bleeding it tommorow if its not to cold. I'll let you know what happens, Thanks

Just to show what my guage looks like, (this is from my cars user manual), and I have drawn arrows with destcriptions on how my cooling works. I know this is not how the 95 and up Cutlasses Temp gauges look, but incase anyone has doubts about their cooling.
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7391/coolingtempdiagramyj8.png

Sense your gauge is different can you tell us what it is out of ?

Sense your gauge is different can you tell us what it is out of ?

It's a 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme SL.

It's a 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme SL.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3796/94gaugeahk9.th.jpg (http://img89.imageshack.us/my.php?image=94gaugeahk9.jpg)

On your 94 gauge there is a position GM marked for some purpose (arrow) , does your owener manual say what this for?

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3796/94gaugeahk9.th.jpg (http://img89.imageshack.us/my.php?image=94gaugeahk9.jpg)

On your 94 gauge there is a position GM marked for some purpose (arrow) , does your owener manual say what this for?

Nope, but im guessing where the needle is pointing to at in the picture is either 200 or 205.

Nope, but im guessing where the needle is pointing to at in the picture is either 200 or 205.

My best guess is that it means 200 degrees, but why did they put emphasis at that location. My hope's were that a owners manual would tell us that this was "operating temp", the t-stat opens at 195 degrees. Anyone else got a 94 Cutlass Supreme that can check out the gauge section?

Here is a picture of a 95 Olds Cutlass Cieria, we have another 95 Olds that a gauge just like this one but no numbers, just H and C.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5945/gguageld1.th.jpg (http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gguageld1.jpg)

Evening or whatever,

I changed out the temprature sensor and temprature sender, including the relay's for the fans just in case. Sadly, none of those changes made any difference, just worse. Now it runs in the red, so I started freaking out, I pulled the car over, opened the hood, no steam nothing, not a rush of warm air when I opened the hood, nothing. I was thankful, but I got curious, I put my hand lightly on top of the head, it was barely warm. Just to be precautious I let the car cool down, luckily I was close to base, so it didnt take long to get back to work. I drove my car back to my shop (I'm a generator mechanic, new to it) I found a temprature gauge, one of those that you stick in a turkey or something, it was rated at 300 degrees. I stuck it in the side of radiator fins (now I know I won't get the best reading) and turned the car on, I let it run until the needle on the dash got up the red, I checked the temprature gauge, guess what, 200!!! I was shocked, if it was overheating or as hot as the guage in my dash said then it would be passed 250, right? I took it to a radiator shop, the radiator dude looked it over for about 15-20 mintues, he told that the car seems to be running perfectly normal, I asked him 3 or 4 times are you sure. He was sure, I had driven it for 45 minutes just to get it to this place, so if it definitely didnt overheat, then? He suggested it may be something electricl from the ECM or ECU to the dash. What do you guys think? Any suggestions? I will try bleeding it tommorow if its not to cold. I'll let you know what happens, Thanks

As I stated before, it sounds like your Cutlass is operating with in normal perameters.
If you gauge on the instrument cluster (IC) is still screwy reading higher, then I'd suspect your IC could be going south.
A LOT of N bodies, 94-96, 97, usualy end up having to replace the IC because of bad connectuons on the circuit board of the IC.

I have a 95 Cutlass Supreme , and the gauge is nothing like the one's pictured.
Just has low - hot in a verticle type gauge, good thing it's getting sold sooon! :grinyes:

Yep, the battery gauge on my 94 cutlass supreme is very screwy. So screwy I replaced a perfectly working alternator, and battery! It always shows a high volatage. I'm thinking of replacing it, or just seeing if anything it lose.

My gauge shows that in the red is 262 degrees, and in the middle its 200 according to the manual. How would I find out if its the IC? Once I get this car paid off, I think I'm going to get rid of it too. Just too many problems. I'm going to get a diagnostic done soon and hopefully they will find out if the problem is electrical, most likely it is, because I replaced nearly all the mechanical parts.

My gauge shows that in the red is 262 degrees, and in the middle its 200 according to the manual. How would I find out if its the IC? Once I get this car paid off, I think I'm going to get rid of it too. Just too many problems. I'm going to get a diagnostic done soon and hopefully they will find out if the problem is electrical, most likely it is, because I replaced nearly all the mechanical parts.

Try not to get discuraged ! A man made your car, a man can fix it!

Your best tool will be correct information. No guess work. I dont need to tell you this. Maybe your was designed for you not to fix it easly.

You have to test everything to keep from wasting your time and money, the bonus of doing things this way is that from now on you will know it, and know what to do.

I would this:
test the coolant temp sensor resentance, warm,med-warm, and cold, this can be done with a Ohm meter, about 4 dollars from harbor freight.

now test the plug for that same sensor, (stw meter to DC volts) 1 of the 2 pins inside the plug should be 0.5 volts, the other pin is the ground ( stw the meter to OHMs) ground 1 of the probs to the eng or body and the other on the pin, it should be low reading

Your computer depends on these reading.

here is some figures to go by.
To test the coolant sensor, unplug the wire connector and test the resistance across the two terminals of the SENSOR with an ohm meter.

The sensor screws into the intake manifold, on the front passenger side, by the thermostat housing.

Coolant sensor approximate resistance specifications:
177 ohms @ 212 deg. F. or 100 deg. C.
241 ohms @ 194 deg. F. or 90 deg. C.
332 ohms @ 176 deg. F. or 80 deg. C.
467 ohms @ 158 deg. F. or 70 deg. C.
667 ohms @ 140 deg. F. or 60 deg. C.
973 ohms @ 122 deg. F. or 50 deg. C.
1188 ohms @ 113 deg. F. or45 deg. C.
1459 ohms @ 104 deg. F. or 40 deg. C.
1802 ohms @ 95 deg. F. or 35 deg. C.
2238 ohms @ 86 deg. F. or 30 deg. C.
2796 ohms @ 77 deg. F. or 25 deg. C.
3520 ohms @ 68 deg. F. or 20 deg. C.
4450 ohms @ 59 deg. F. or 15 deg. C.
5670 ohms @ 50 deg. F. or 10 deg. C.
7280 ohms @ 41 deg. F. or 5 deg. C.
9420 ohms @ 32 deg. F. or 0 deg. C.
12300 ohms @ 23 deg. F. or -5 deg. C.
16180 ohms @ 14 deg. F. or -10 deg. C.
21450 ohms @ 5 deg. F. or -15 deg. C.
28680 ohms @ -4 deg. F. or -20 deg. C.
52700 ohms @ -22 deg. F. or -30 deg. C.
100700 ohms @ -40 deg. F. or - 40 deg. C.

all-data says 44 ohms at 280F (138C)
1365 ohms at 100F (37C)
fans start 215 to 230 degrees.
t-stat begins to open at 195 degrees

Thanks man, I guess it is better that I learn this stuff now at a young age of 20, instead of later. I only had to get this car beacuse my other car caught fire in a Taco Bell drive-thru. Yes, this car was passed down to me for 4,000 dollars, I didn't really have choose, when in the military, you need transportation. Anyhow maybe God wanted me to have this car, who knows. Its a good thing that I have an ohmmeter at work, I work on generators which attributes to electrical equipment. Hopefully this will work and thanks again :)

Whats wrong with this picture? Food for thought!


http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8581/tempdemohu5.th.jpg (http://img402.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tempdemohu5.jpg)