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Originally Posted by jgroover
I agree. I was actually reading up on this today becasue at idle my car gets near 120 .. which i think is due to the aux fan not kicking in.. but 90, from what everyone says, is perfectly ok.
I do have a question though.. not to hijack this.. but does the engine fan always run or is it only supposed to engage at a higher temp?
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The engine fan is engaged based on ambient air temperature around a metallic strip on the fan clutch. This metal stip changes shape and allows a valve to open which causes oil in the fan clutch to engage it at higher temperatures. When the temperature is lower, however, the fan clutch causes the fan to freewheel, adding engine power and fuel economy.
As far as your high temp being caused by the auxiliary fan...the auxiliary fan is engaged based on coolant temperature inside the AC condensor rather than engine coolant temperatures. Each is part of a seperate cooling system. While an overheating condensor might cause your radiator to heat slightly due to its proximity, it would not cause as significant a shift in temperature as you mentioned.
As far as I know, it is not really acceptable to have this vehicle (1983 300cdt) running at a temperature consistently above 90C and I really don't think my gauge is showing the wrong temperature because I just put in a new sensor and gauge. I hope I'm not obsessing about this, I just don't want to cause excessive engine wear due to high heat and thermally broken down oil in the only car I own.