temp guage above 200

[ga2001gt532]

well how are you gonna measure it then because i measure mine from all the way full till the light comes on. so that light has to come on at the same time everytime. and i drive all highway with a couple stop and gos. so to me it seems like i'm getting bad gas milage.

and for an o2 problem, if you disconnected the o2 and then started the vehicle shouldn't the ses light come on, because i was trying to get the o2 out but don't have the right tools. so i just disconnected the wire and started it. and their was no ses light but the motor kind of reved up and down alittle then reconnected it and it smoothed out

[vd5505]

It also helps if you get a new thermostat and take that and drill two 1/8in holes one on each side of the thermostat it will help it stay cooler thats just something we do to all of our cars, you can also get another temp switch off the internet that will make the fans come on at a cooler temp, you can get them from Be Cool and Flex-A-Lite company

[KhellendrosxS]

To measure mile per gallon:

1) Fill your car completely full and record the current mileage before you drive away from the pump (lets say 41000).

2) When you think you are low on fuel pull in to the gas station and fill the car again.

3) Record the number of gallons it took to fill the car this second time (lets say 10 gallons were added).

4) Record new mileage (lets say 41300) and subtract the old mileage (41000)

5) Therefore you drove 300 miles and used 10 gallons of fuel to do so.

6) Divide 300 by 10 = 30

7) Your car got 30 MPG on the last fillup

Its as simple as that people.

[ryanbgb22]

Originally Posted by KhellendrosxS

To measure mile per gallon:

1) Fill your car completely full and record the current mileage before you drive away from the pump (lets say 41000).

2) When you think you are low on fuel pull in to the gas station and fill the car again.

3) Record the number of gallons it took to fill the car this second time (lets say 10 gallons were added).

4) Record new mileage (lets say 41300) and subtract the old mileage (41000)

5) Therefore you drove 300 miles and used 10 gallons of fuel to do so.

6) Divide 300 by 10 = 30

7) Your car got 30 MPG on the last fillup

Its as simple as that people.

It's pretty bad if someone really needed instructions on finding mpg .

[AaronGTR]

Originally Posted by vd5505

It also helps if you get a new thermostat and take that and drill two 1/8in holes one on each side of the thermostat it will help it stay cooler thats just something we do to all of our cars, you can also get another temp switch off the internet that will make the fans come on at a cooler temp, you can get them from Be Cool and Flex-A-Lite company

That doesn't always work. A lot of people on here have switched to cooler thermostats and their car runs at the same temp. The thermostat only determines how early it starts sending coolant to the radiator. If you put in a 180 T-stat, you still have to have enough cooling capacity to keep the coolant at 180. If the outside air is hot, and you have a stock radiator, your car is still gonna run at 200+. Also you can't just change a temp switch for the fans. They are controlled by the PCM, not a temp switch.

The drilling trick, yes it does work to add a little extra coolant flow. Thats not the reason for doing it though. The real reason for it is so that if you live in cold climates, it lets a little bit of coolant through so it gradually warms up the radiator before the T-stat opens and suddenly hits the cylinder heads with a flood of ice cold water. Many people on the grand prix forums found this out first hand before they started drilling theirs. Cold water on iron heads causes cracks, and it's not too good for aluminum heads either.


Bottom line here people... do you really need the car to run colder? If your car is running anywhere between 190-220 regularly, you are fine. If you need a cooler thermostat for performance, you don't need anything lower than a 180. A 160 is really too cold for these cars for good combustion and proper oil viscosity. You don't want to over cool it. Keep in mind that if it's cold out and the radiator will actually keep the coolant at 180, you are going to be running richer fuel mixtures and losing gas mileage. Over long periods this will affect your O2 sensor and cat too. It's not just a matter of switching T-stats. You need the PCM programmed to adjust for this properly.

Also keep in mind that GM didn't program your fans to turn on and keep the coolant right at the T-stat opening point. The T-stat doesn't open and close fully at one temp. It's gradually starts opening at one temp until it's fully open, and it gradually starts closing at another temp until it fully closed. The cooling system is supposed to have some up and down flexibility in temp and the T-stat is supposed to do the majority of temp control by deciding when to send coolant to the radiator. It's not the fans job to regulate temps. They are they to prevent overheating in the event the radiator can't shed enough heat on it's own. The fans have one speed, and the pcm turns on one fan at a certain temp, and if the temp keeps going up it turns on the second fan at another point. You can program the fans to turn on a little earlier, but you don't want them running all the time in an effort to keep the car under 200. All you are gonna do is place extra load on the alternator and burn out your fans eventually. For the majority of people on here, they could drill their stock 195 stat and be happy if it keeps functioning properly and if their car stays at 220 or under.

[tenspeed]

To measure mile per gallon:

1) Fill your car completely full and record the miles your receipt.

2) Go to www.GasBuddy.com - pick out your location - record the fill up in your fuel logbook

3) When you think you are low on fuel pull in to the gas station and fill the car again. Record the miles on your odometer on your receipt

4) Enter receipt miles and gallons in the fuel log book

5) Everything is noted. MPG's cost per year, gallons per year, etc.

[vd5505]

you buy another temp switch that you can control from the websites that i posted and you wire that to your fans to kick on when you want it to, so there for it bypasses your PCM, and just a question these are just a Family car, they are not hot rods or street tuner cars at all i dont understand why there are so many people that think these are fast cars ,

[AaronGTR]

Originally Posted by vd5505

you buy another temp switch that you can control from the websites that i posted and you wire that to your fans to kick on when you want it to, so there for it bypasses your PCM, and just a question these are just a Family car, they are not hot rods or street tuner cars at all i dont understand why there are so many people that think these are fast cars ,

But if you do that, the pcm will throw a check engine light, so you'd have the have the pcm reprogrammed to not turn those codes on.... in which case if you are programming the pcm anyway you could just program the fans to kick on when you want and skip the whole stupid switch idea and save your money.

And honda civics aren't fast cars either. They were originally designed as economic commuter cars. That didn't stop a lot of people from making them faster. It's not about having the fastest car out there. If it was we'd all be saving up for veyrons. It's about improving the car you have to make it better than it was from the factory, and having fun with it. If you don't get that, then you have no place on an enthusiast forum.

[vd5505]

I was just asking cause i just really never thought of people making Grand Am's faster, im just use to big block Alcohol drag cars and i have had a 03 WRX for 3 years and then i bought this Grand Am i have now for $2,000 off this guy that was deploying soon and its a really good car i have had no problems with it at all and it has 82,400 miles on it

[juneau]

I've noticed the same problem with my car overheating. I've owned my GAGT since 02, my car always ran at 190-200 degrees until my fans died. After replacing the fans the fans don't automatically turn on, but if you turn your A/C on it overrides whatever system governs your fans and turns them on automatically.

I will check out a new PCM from MPRacing. but are there any other senors that govern the fans?

As for mileage..... my car has 178K and gets 31mpg highway @75 and about 22 in the city.

[AaronGTR]

Originally Posted by juneau

I've noticed the same problem with my car overheating. I've owned my GAGT since 02, my car always ran at 190-200 degrees until my fans died. After replacing the fans the fans don't automatically turn on, but if you turn your A/C on it overrides whatever system governs your fans and turns them on automatically.

I will check out a new PCM from MPRacing. but are there any other senors that govern the fans?

As for mileage..... my car has 178K and gets 31mpg highway @75 and about 22 in the city.

Sounds to me like they are working normally. There are no other sensors that govern the fans. It's all based on coolant temps and whether the A/C is on or off. It turns them on at a lower coolant temp when you have the A/C on to pull more air through the A/C condensor to get colder air.