1991 240sx se

[imafool240]

My electric fan on the radiator isn't coming on. My car keeps over heating. What do I do?

[NISTECH]

the electric fan is not intended to keep it cool unless it passes a certain point in which you should be focusing on your non elctric fan and why its not doing the job cooling it down. Does your temp guge on the dash indicate its getting hot? And does the gauge appear to be accurate,meaning does it gradually go to hot or does it reach hot in what seems to be to short a period of time?

[imafool240]

I can drive it around town for awhile, and then it will heat up all the sudden.

[NISTECH]

with the a/c on or off? is there any charicteristics that are the same every time it happens ie you just got off the freeway,you just got caught up in heavy traffic, you just began doing heavy accelerations,stuff like that anything that you are doing different when the overheat occurs.

[imafool240]

a/c is on, or I have gone up a steep hill, always after time on the freeway, and of course in heavy traffic it will get hot.

[NISTECH]

the first three you listed indicate a pluged radiator, the last one suggests a lack of air flow through the radiator. like a bad fan clutch.

[imafool240]

Since I have been discussing this with you over the last few days, my car has been really running bad. It's idling real rough, and now it keeps dying on me. Do you think that this is related to the other problems?

[NISTECH]

very likely have you checked the coolant level in the radiator at all?

[imafool240]

Do you think that the a/c unit going out could be the cause of it overheating?

[s13EastTN]

Check the fluid in the radiator. I would go ahead and drain it, then flush it out (only about $5 total, no biggie). Also check and see if your electric fan turns on at all, and also make sure your clutch fan spins, as sometimes they just sit there.