car heats up when idling at a light or in traffic (almost got to the red), cools back down when moving.

checked all 3 relays by switching them one by one into the fog light position and checking, fog lights worked with all 3. fluid is fine.

put a new thermostat on it. cranked it and let it sit, thermostat opened up, top tube got hot. everythings a go there. temperature was still creeping up. fans were not coming on! turned the a/c to max and the fans came on and the temperature started dropping back down. turned the a/c back off, and the fans kept going, and the temperature went right back down to where it normally is! what the hell??

yesterday was a nice day and i was driving around for a while with the tops off and no a/c, first time ive done that for more than a short trip to town... guess this is why i never noticed it. normally im using the a/c so the fans are on and its a non issue. so what does this mean, i have to turn the a/c on and back off whenever the temp gets too hot?

what do i check next? this is the first car ive owned with electric fans...

 

Shoebox has it all covered in his exellant writeups:
http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#cooling

 

excellent. i was thinking it couldnt be the temp sensor because the gauge works, but from that i can tell that there are two sensors. ill replace the PCM temp sensor and see what happens. thanks a ton.