Coolant temperature getting to 217 degrees when driving?

Tiny
KITTYCAT3511
  • MEMBER
  • 2007 CHEVROLET HHR
  • 2.4L
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 158,235 MILES
Sent to a shop they went through everything and couldn’t find anything, but I know that something seems off. Just going to break it down from start to finish. Driving through town (30-35 mph) outside temperature 50 degrees stop lights my temperature is sitting around 195 degrees as I throttle it goes up or down 183 or 200 depending on the distance to the next stop light. While on the highway (65-75 mph) coolant temperature sits around 185-187 190 if I throttle hard up a hill. No bogging down, no loss of power, no weird smells, no steam or gurgle from the heater core. Exit the freeway and the temperature hits 210 like it’s nothing. The cooling fan doesn’t kick on at this point. Take it back to the shop, they test all the fan relays, pressure test, trace all wires and replaced the cooling temperature sensor. Thermostat opens as it should around 210 but they said run it. They said the fan kicks on around 200 and it just won’t shut off by itself until I turn off the car. So I got home I decided to run the car from sitting cold (coolant temperature 70) and run for 45 minutes. I monitored the temperature it went from 163 to 186 and so on until it reached 190 in neutral, I throttled, and it dove up to 210 still no fan no heater was on at this point. I flipped on the heater to hands and feet (full heat) no fan. Turned it to defrost and the car bogged down, and I heard the fan kick on and the car resumed running back to normal RPMs (1) the coolant temperature dropped fast from 210 down to 189 and holding for 15 minutes when I shut off the car. Is it overheating? Am I being crazy? What’s wrong?
Saturday, March 1st, 2025 AT 6:23 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 34,367 POSTS
GM is well-known to have many models where the electric radiator fan doesn't turn on until 226 degrees. That concerns a lot of owners until they get used to it. A quick way to check the system is to unplug the coolant temperature sensor. By default, that makes the Engine Computer turn the radiator fan on as a precaution because it doesn't know the actual temperature. That verifies everything else is working.

Also be aware dash gauges are notoriously inaccurate. They're best for observing when something is out of the ordinary. The better approach is to observe the temperature readings on a scanner. Those need to be accurate for proper engine performance and lowest emissions. That data is transferred to the instrument cluster, (another computer), where it's interpreted to run the less-accurate gauges.
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Saturday, March 1st, 2025 AT 7:24 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 15,322 POSTS
That truck should run about 210-220 normally. The fans should cycle on starting at 226 degrees and then off at 212. Turning it to defrost would turn on the AC compressor which is the reason it bogged down at idle. From your description it sounds like it's working as it should. The attached is the OE description of the fan operations.
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Saturday, March 1st, 2025 AT 7:30 PM

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