hey guys, i'm new to this forum as i normally post on fbody.com. i was told to come over here for faster tech advise so here i am. first let me explain my problem...my 96 trans am started acting up today. the fans are not kicking on so it will slowly start to overheat while idling. it is ok while driving since it gets air. after parking at a friends house i noticed the coolent was coming out of the reservoir, overflowing under the cap and continued to rise until i started the car and it cycled back in. i let the car cool and brought it home with no problems and started searching on the internet for what could be my problem. i came across this thread http://www.fbody.com/cgi-bin/lt1/rea...=233870#233870 where it was suggested by hbhracing to test the fans, so i did that and they worked. he then mentioned the ect sensor possibly being bad. my question to you guys is if this sounds right for my problem. also what exactly is the ect sensor, what does it do and where is it located. if it is my problem how expensive and difficult will it be to change. i'm sorry if this is a long post and if it has been posted before on here. let me know please guys. thanks

 

i have not bled the system or anything, since i started losing coolant, i did not want to replace what was lost before trying to find out the problem incase i lost more. i also have the stock thermostat and everything else as far as i know. the test that i performed showed that the fuses, relays and everything was working correctly as the fans turned on high.

 

ECT = engine coolent sensor and it's located on the water pump.

 

Just to add, its only a 8-12 dollar piece and that would be all you'd pay cause its an easy fix and you can do it yourself, as mentioned above its on the front of your water pump.

 

whats the easiest/best way to get to the water pump to swap out sensors?

 

There is a hose that is just in the way on the right at least for me from the top. So I am gonna do mine from underneath. You may find it easier from the top, I just felt that hose was in the way to much for me and I didn't wanna hassle with removing it since its a coolant line as far as I can tell. I can tell it'd be very easy from the bottom though.

 

Go in from the bottom. If you have the stock intake elbow with the air silencer tube, it may be in the way (photo courtesy of Shoebox):

http://shbox.com/1/temp_sensor1.jpg

 

yeah that hose directly up and to the right of the actual sensor is closer than it looks in that picture cause it was giving me all kinds of hell trying to figure out how I'd get up under the pump to get to the nut let alone have any room to move with that hose in the way. I took my elbow out when trying this too.