Wifey and I were stuck in an underground car park moving VERY slowly for about 40 minutes on Sunday, and the engine overheated. She was driving at the time, so she hadn't spotted the needle creeping up. Anyway, the coolant reservoir boiled up and the only way to get it cool was to slowly release the steam pressure (thus pissing away all the 'proper' coolant) and replace it with cold water. I noticed that the radiator fan wasn't spinning, so my thinking is that either the thermistor that controls it is dead or disconnected, or the motor is broken.
Last night, much the same thing, overheated when going too slow to have sufficient airflow over the rad, but once we maintained 85kmph, it was fine, 110 and it was working too hard.
A little background; I had the rad, air con and motor replaced recently, but the guy was in rush, and didn't reconnect everything, so there is a single loose electrical connector (one split from it is connected to the nearside light cluster). The radiator fan motor has two connectors, and I've reseated them both, can't tell where the 3rd one is meant to go.
Wifey wants me to bring the car to a 'real' mechanic, but it's Christmas so I'm stoney broke, so I'd like to get this done myself if I can.
Ideas? Picture of the offending item:
Last night, much the same thing, overheated when going too slow to have sufficient airflow over the rad, but once we maintained 85kmph, it was fine, 110 and it was working too hard.
A little background; I had the rad, air con and motor replaced recently, but the guy was in rush, and didn't reconnect everything, so there is a single loose electrical connector (one split from it is connected to the nearside light cluster). The radiator fan motor has two connectors, and I've reseated them both, can't tell where the 3rd one is meant to go.
Wifey wants me to bring the car to a 'real' mechanic, but it's Christmas so I'm stoney broke, so I'd like to get this done myself if I can.
Ideas? Picture of the offending item:
