Needed a jump tonight plus over heating

[gljvd]

Okay I posted in another thread about over heating. Last week the car over heated when I was on a back road going about 25mph in 90 degree heat. At the time the air was on. Now I noticed that the second fan was not on and I haven't heard it go on since. I have only been babying the car. I took it once about 20 miles and then another time 5 miles since this happened. The car will start to rise in temp if i'm sitting to long and if it starts to go up I turn the temp gage to heat and blast it. So I haven't gone past the half way point on the temp gage again. I still don't hear the other fan and sometimes the air will shut off or the air intake will switch back to outside air if I have that on.

Tonight however after driving 5 miles and leaving it for about 5 hours the car wouldn't start. A jump from triple A got it going again and I learned the battery is almost 5 years old. But the triple A guy also said the alternator sounded very bad.

Now I've checked for normal signs of a bad head gasket , creamy mayo in the oil cap and signs of oil in the reservoir. I didn't see either of these things. I was a bit low on fluid which I filled up ( I will check after driving a little tomorrow to see if more goes missing).

What I'm wondering is if a bad alternator could be the cause of my over heating?

If not is there anything else I can test or try before bringing it to a mechanic ?

Thanks in advance for any advice or prior experience.

 

[melsg5]

the alternator isn't going to cause overheating. The overheating could be caused by a leak, you would have to pressure test the system. A bad thermostat, you replace it. Fans not running at all or not coming on when they should signs of a sensor issue. When you turn on the AC do the fans run?

 

[gljvd]

Sorry , I just got up after a long day. I am going to try to get the car started without a jump. If it doesn't start I will get a new battery and go from there. If it starts up I will report back about the fans.

I do have a pep boys down the block, I wonder if when I'm getting the battery swapped out I should have them do a coolant system evaluation. says they do a combustion leak test , radiator cap testing and ultra violet tracer dye along with checking the cooling fans. Its $35.


Edit . Well it doesn't start , its been sitting since about midnight EST and I tried it around 1pm EST. I'm going to see if I can get a ride to the local Napa store and replace the battery myself.

 

[gljvd]

Just wanted to update. I solved the starting problem. The battery was just no good. After getting a good look at it during the day , I noticed a huge amount of blue crust. I tried cleaning it and jumping the car but it would still die even after 30 minutes of driving with all electronics off. A new battery fixed the problem.

I tested to see if the fans go on. One does go on , the other doesn't. I also noticed when I put the air on the compressor tries to turn on but it clicks off quickly after. The second fan never goes on even when the temp starts to get out of hand.

______________________________

 

[melsg5]

you have to test the fan motor by applying power directly to it

 

[Christopher11]

I had to replace the battery in my 2008 also, after many jumps. Fixed that problem. Could you not run the air for a while, till you solve this? I agree that it could well be a sensor not causing the fan to come on. Good luck bro.