Just changed the rad on my GTA, theromstat & sender. stil some questions:

Well, finally got round to doing a job I had been putting off for a couple of weeks.

My wife's car needed doing so I bought her a rad, then a week after it arrived I was poking around under the bonnet of my car and low and behold my rad is worse than hers!! So needless to say I pinched her rad and told her she can wait.

Having read a couple of posts on how to do it there seemed to be two schools of thought. Out through the top and down through the bottom. Well I started trying through the top - and no way! I thought this would avoid scrabbling around on the floor and having to take the undertray off. Eventually gave up trying up through the top and went for downwards - much easier in my mind. The most difficult element is trying to take the fans out - they take a lot of wiggling and shunting back and forth. I noticed on mine - as with some others that the aircon connection to the A/C radiator thingy had sheared off - so I have taken that bit out for the time being. Has made putting the fans back in a bit easier.

The original problem actually started because my temperature gauge reads low - around 70 degrees. I though firstly I would do the thermostat as well as the sender unit, now I have done the radiator and still the gauge reads 70 degrees. Although when the car is hot the fans do come on - so that leads me to thinking it is a duff gauge in the dash - any ideas?

Also, should both fans come on together and are there different speeds? If there are how do you know which speed they are doing? Some on the forum mentioned that you can loose a resistor somewhere in the fans and they will then run at full speed. Does anyone know about this and how to find out?

Also for the temperature, perhaps I could get a thermometer that reads to 100 degrees and test the water temperature for myself.

What do people think?

I have never trusted temp guages on Italian cars, the only one I had that would go to 90 and sit there was my brand new punto. The GTA in this kind of weather does the same as you, gets to about 70 (just past the first mark?) And stays there, in traffic it will go slightly past the mid way mark and the fans kick in and it goes back below that point slightly.

It has always done this and I have owned it from 18 months old.

Eddie,

Thanks for the comments and nice to know I am not alone........I started to become a little paranoid that the water temperature was at about 65 degrees in mine, I might see one day if I can get a spare temp gauge from a breakers and wire it up just to test it.

Perhap.........

Edward

i changed the rad on mine after it was reading almost 100's, now it only just goes past the first mark unless in trafic when it starts to rise until the fans cut in.

So what do you assume in that situation - if the fan is cutting in the water temperature must be around 90degrees - but the gauge is showing 60 degrees or there abouts - something is wrong.......low reading gauge perhaps....?

E.

is the fan that' s cutting in the air con fan ( air con on ), or the main fan?