'99 GTP: Cooling fans aren't coming on

[Centauri]

Hiya,

I recently picked up a nice '99 GTP on the cheap and am now digging dee enough to find some issues;

The only way I can get the cooling fans to come on is to turn on the AC. So it was suggested to me to change the three fuses that control the fans in the engine bay fuse box. Which I did. But it doesn't seem to be making a difference.

Went for a test drive tonight and the engine doesn't seem to be getting excessively hot (around 160 after 45 mins of city driving in 69 degree night air) but I noticed that the engine temp fluctuates upward by 15-20 degrees every time the car stops moving, such as at a long red light.

Does anybody have any idea what the problem could be?

I also noticed that the car was very, very low on reservoir coolant when I bought it and that the bit that was there was very... gunky. But it seems to be holding its level since I filled it up. Maybe this is all related?

Thanks for your help people,
Ed

 

[Fivefingerdeathpunch]

Factory temps for fans are 212 and 228, if I remember right.

So you'd never see them come on if the temps are really only around 160-170. The factory gauge is always pretty far off.

The first line is roughly 140-160, the second big line 190-200 and it goes to 210 and higher. There is a big jump from 160 to 200 on the factory gauge but such little movement in the needle.

Idealy you want to a run a 195º thermostat, as the motor runs best there. If one is installed, the temps can rise at stop lights and the low speed fan may come on but the temps will drop quickly back to normal once you are moving again.

 

[Centauri]

Hmmm... I think maybe I'm just used to my Taurus where the fans seem to run pretty much as soon as I get moving, even if only very slowly.

Thanks.