I know summer is here for me but I turned my car off at 5:30 pm and went to my car at 9:30 pm and popped my hood open and my engine was still warm, shouldn't after that long it be cooled down?

When I drive I don't hear my engine fan on, I am curious if its not working properly?

How do I test my engine fan or make it always be on, like I know it comes on only after it gets so hot supposedly.

any help or similar stories to mine?

I think I will have friends check it out this weekend to be safe too

 

well turn the car on and let it warm up...u should hear the fan kick in. also what is warm? components in the engine can get hotter than 220 degrees easily. if its warm outside with the sun shinning on the hood and the engine bay acting like an oven, the engine could still b warm hours later

 

It does sit out like you said, and I can understand it will be hot later,

You think a car cover may be a good idea for me through the summer, I would put it on when it sits in front of work but would like to keep it a little cooler and protect everything from the sun. watch think?

 

it would protect the paint but it would look a lil odd sittin out there with a cover...and will anyone steal the cover?

 

when i test diesel generators at work, we will sometimes have the test cell 100-120F. after running the genset for a couple hours at full load things obviously get pretty hot inside the enclosure. after things get shut down, we will monitor temps inside the enclosure and lots of times the heatsoak is amazingly hot after shutdown. it will stay like that for hours as long as the test cell stays up to temp.

so what you're experiencing, IMO, is normal because your hood in a way insulates your engine and creates the heatsoaking. plus, the sun beating down on a super hot day doesn't help either. a cooler tstat would help in your climate but you will want to be able to turn your cooling fans on at the cooler temp also, and i'm not aware of any device for the 3.5/3.9L that can do that...yet. if anyone does know please speak up!

 

Get a scantool to read your coolant temp (ECT), and sit there and let the car idle until it gets over 200*. Your thermostat should open just before that, but the temp should continue to rise since you have to air circulating through the radiator. If its getting excessively high (I'd say over 220- I can't remember what my stock fan settings were), then something may be wrong.

Have you tried checking the fuses? How high is the temp gauge on the dash going?

Seems pretty overkill to me, all you're really protecting is the paint. I noticed you live in AZ, and its pretty hot out there- so your engine is going to stay hot much longer. As long as you're not exceeding normal operating temperature while driving, it doesn't make much difference.

 

Thanks for the tips, good advice

I have notice my temp gauge inside will go from cool to the middle, and no matter when I drive or race, my temp gauge has never gone over halfway...

so is it normal to do this, or may my thermostat need to be replaced?

 

Isn't halfway 195°? So that's a good thing.

And wouldn't a car cover kind of "hold" in the heat also?

 

That sounds ok- as long as its not getting near the red, you should be fine. I imagine there has to be something keeping it there, especially when you're not moving- so if you want to see if the fan works try what I said about parking and letting it idle once you drove around and warmed it up. Just sitting there, the temp should go up and up if the fan doesn't kick on. Also, I could be wrong- but I thought turning on the AC instantly kicked on the other fan?

 

yes turning on AC will kick on the other fan cuz it has to cool the condenser

also, i THINK, but i'm not sure, if your coolant gets above a certain temp both fans will kick on anyways. i know that's the case on other vehicles at least.