When I am in traffic, the temp gauge goes up to approximately 94 or so, when it gets this high the car stalls and wont start for around 20 minutes until the gauge reads cool again, (below half way). If I am driving around 60mph the gauge reads just below half and she runs fine, but the minute I stop at a light or in traffic the gauge goes up and the car dies. I am going crazy as did everyone when I got stuck in the middle of the road at 5 oclock rush hour traffic on friday and caused a 3 mile backup!!!

I changed the fuel and air filters, thought I would start there but that didnt help. I did notice that the cooling fan did not come on at all, not sure if it is because I had the heat on in the car. I would think that the fan should come on at some point though to cool the engine.

After the third time of stalling, cooling down, starting the car again and two hours later to get home, the check engine light came on and is now on all the time. Any help would be greatly appreciated since I dont have alot of money and am trying to fix it myself.

Go to an auto parts store and get the code(s) read. Then report back with what codes they read. Yeah, I never heard of a temperature sensitive air filter... The fan won't turn on until the temp is over 100C. I can guess CPS but I am not an expert on that car (or any car actually).

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I found out that its the crankshaft position sensor, I kinda figured that since I have been reading all of the posts here on this great website. Now I have a question. I want to buy a crankshaft position sensor and dont know which one to purchase. I have to drive the car back and forth to work everyday and cant take it out until I get the new one, so I can switch it out right away. I looked at this website and they have 3 different ones. how do I determine which one I need without taking the unit completely out? Can I go by the vin number? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Robbie

Simple, just click on "Buy Parts" at the top of this screen, then click on "Fastlane". At the lower left of that screen are the e-mail and phone number for Lee and Roy. They can make sure you get the right part. Looks like I was a good guesser this time. Yes it looks like you will need either the SN out of the VIN# or the SN off of the engine. So look for those. One or the other should resemble the 30 xxxxxx they are referencing.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra