Hello mlgs300,
This weekend I filled and bled the cooling system. I left the thermostat off because I wanted to make sure that I had full flow into the engine. I topped off the radiator and started the engine, squeezing the upper & lower rad hose to burp any air out and left the heater on LO defrost. Once the coolant started to get warm I shut the engine off and let it cool. Then I topped off the rad and continued this process until I no longer needed to top if off. Then I added to the overflow tank and put the cap on and let the engine idle. The engine was definitely getting hotter than it should, but the temp gage only read 1/2 which I think is the normal operating temp. The fan spins with the engine since it is driven by the pulley. How does this kick on if it is pulley driven? What else could be causing the engine to run really hot, but not register on the temp gage? The rad cap seems to be working well and the thermostat was out of the engine so I would think it would be running cooler than normal. Any thoughts on what else I should investigate? I'm not very familiar with this car yet.