There are two primary culprits for running hot at idle (and a couple secondary ones). The first one is proper fan operation. Forgive me as I haven't looked at a Saturn for a while, but most front wheel drive cars with a/c will have two fans. One is controlled by the thermostat/temp sensor. The other is designed to turn on when your a/c is running. Check both of these to make sure they are operating. If you turn on a/c and only 1 runs, there's a fan problem. The second area is the thermostat. There is a check you can make, feeling your heater hoses after vehicle is warmed up, it's a little tricky on front wheel drive cars, and you have to have some calluses. You're feeling for a significant temp. Difference--if one hose is cooler than the other, the thermostat is not opening fully. This isn't a fool proof test but it will indicate a major problem with the thermostat. Other possibilities include coolant level, dirty coolant and debris in radiator.
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 AT 10:58 PM
