'96 Base (Non-Turbo)

Right now what seems to be the problem is mostly that when the engine is idling it heats up quickly having nearly reached the "H" zone a couple of times. It was "running hot" about a week ago while I was driving it so I checked the coolant level. It looked mighty low, so I added. Now while running it USUALLY stays at a good temp, but sometimes I'll look down and it'll be up nearing 3/4 on the engine heat gauge.

I'm sure the new coolant I added (and I didn't add much) was not the same as the old, but it's all ethylene glycol, isn't it? I don't think it's the thermostat, because I have smelled my car getting hotter than it usually ever had been. I'm thinking maybe (probably) water pump? Especially since it's doing most of its massive heating while idling (isn't the water pump directly connected to the engine?).

If anyone could help me out that's be great. Thank you.

before u guess water pump it could be ur temp sensor. do u hear ur fans kick on? if not get a new temp sensor. im not to sure about the non turbo but im sure theres a temp sensor.

it can be the following items:

water pump
t stat
radiator
hose
fan

yeah, make sure you fan is working, many cases of engine overheating is because the fan is not working properly due to bad coolant temp sensor, then check you radiator hoses, themostat could stuck closed, lastly water pump.

yea defentily water pump last. the work involved in that and it not fixin the issue will piss u off( at least it would if it was me lol)

yeah, it's not terrible, i did it recently in my car, but it's not the most easiest thing either

Id say your coolant system has air in it and needs bled. That is the simplest and most common cause of overheating. adding coolant helped Im sure, but when you did it did you have the front of the car jacked up so the fill hole was at the highets point? then run the car with the heater on till the thermostat opened, then fill it again from there? Ive known air in the system to even stop the temp sensor from being able to kick the fans on! so defiantly try this if you haven't.

T stat

Ok, so after letting my car sit for a bit I turned it on. I watched as the engine heated up to normal temperature. It stayed there for a while, then it began heating up past where it should be. I didn't hear the fans come on so I popped the hood and sure enough they weren't, and never did. I watched as my engine temp kept climbing and nothing happened.

So does that mean for sure thermostat? And where exactly is that located in the system? Thanks.

could be the fan itself N/G, try to jump the fan by run a hot wire (through a fuse of course) with something sharp at the end, (i'm not sure which wire that's why we're doing this way) locate the fan connector, close by the radiator, poke the light color wires, usually they're hot wires, see which one turn the fan on, if you poke in to the ground wires, it'll just pop the fuse, don't worry, pop another one in. by doing this we will know if the fan is working or not than we can go from there.

I don't exactly understand how to do this... I'm poking at the fan wires with ...a fuse? ...another wire? I'm sorry, maybe if you could just explain that again in a different way?

He's talking about running a jumper wire with an inline fuse and a sharp end. From the battery to the fan. Disconnect the fan harness, and run the jumper wire from the battery to either lead on the fan connectors. By doing this, you're eliminating the relay or harness wiring on the vehicle side from being defective. If the fan turns on, the next step is to check the relay, or check for a short to ground or broken connection elsewhere up the line. If the fan does not turn on, then the fan is bad.

To make the jumper, you can take some 12 gauge wire, a fuse receptacle (like one in a car amp wiring kit only smaller) that can be bought from autozone or orileys, and something like a multimeter wire tip. To make it temporary, just get the female part of a crimp-on bullet connector and stick the multimeter wire in it. Voila, sharp point. Connect the other end to the battery, and touch the multimeter wire tip to the wires that you want to supply direct voltage to. The fuse prevents damage in case you accidentally touch the end of the wire to any other part of the car, which would of course send sparks flying and burn some stuff. Possibly damaging the battery, too.

Good luck!