whats up guys im my 01 monte ss the other day it starting over heating in traffic and at red lkight. i talked to my friend that has an 03 intimadater and he said he was having the same problem and he told me he changed his coolent sensor anr the fans started workin again and the proble stoped. well after about 4 hours of cursing at my engine i re plased the sensor and refilled the radiator with gm fulid and bleed the system the fans still dont work properly only one is coming on and it still over heats. does anbody know what else it could be??????????????

 

Maybe your thermostat is bad. Try replacing that. I had an overheating problem last month, and we fixed it by replacing the thermostat and adding more coolant.

 

Your LIM gasket could be leaking. Its very common on the 3800.

 

First thing you need to do is not drive it, and relax

How hot did the engine get? When it got that hot, did you quickly shut it off? Running a hot engine can destroy your interal gaskets and warp heads, etc.

When you start your car, does it warm up to normal operating temperature, and then keep going? I would replace the thermostat also. Could be stuck closed, and it's an easy fix. Get your coolant flushed, could be starting to gunk up.

After you do these 2 things, if you are still overheating, and you bleed the system and there is still air (or you are losing coolant) you have to just assume the worst, and know that you probably have some gaskets going. Most likely the LIM, but if you are going to do the teardown yourself, might as well get a whole gasket kit and replace everything.

 

I agree with nyislanders and Chibi. A stuck closed T-stat can cause some annoying problems and it's quick, cheap and easy to do. I would have probably done that before the sensor.
If you want to see if the T-stat is the problem, get yourself a pot of boiling water, drop the current/old t-stat in with a new t-stat at the same time. Observe the timing of when they open. If the new one opens quicker then the old one, there you go.

I'll add another suggestion, check the inside of the radiator, make sure it has coolant. If you are loosing coolant while driving, then the over heat issue can be tied to that (next step, find the leak).

 

The tstat works fine but the radiator fans are not comming on and I can't figure out why the fans army working right only one comes on

 

"""""fans arn't""""""" damn spellcheck lol

 

Turn your A/C on, does the other kick on?

Check wires and fuses

 

Another thing recommended to me is if you have access to a scan tool, plug it in and see what the car computer believes the temp to be compared to the guage. I have yet to see a difference in this to help in trouble shooting the problem. Still, might be of value (as if the car computer has a lower temp, that would explain the fans not kicking on).