Bonneville ssei runs rugged after idling for long time

[chocolatcolumbo]

I’ve ran into this issue twice now. If I leave my 2002 SSEI running but just idling for like an hour it will start kind of like bogging down or cutting out, if I turn the car off for a couple minutes it will run fine. I’m not exactly sure what it is but, when the car sits in one spot while running I’ve noticed the engine coolant temp goes up a little above 200 and I have a 180 degree tstat in the car. I have never heard the electric radiator fans running so I’m wondering if it’s just getting a little hot and the PCM starts cutting back fuel or something to get the engine to cool down. That would be my guess what the problem is but I’m just curios if anyone else has had the same issue and found the problem.

[harofreak00]

180 stat won't do anything if the fans aren't programmed to come on earlier. Also the temp gauge in the dash is designed to display 200 even if the temp is a little higher or lower than 200.

Also, why would you let the car idle for an hour?

[chocolatcolumbo]

I know but I'm just saying I've never even heard the fans on so i wonder if they even work or not. I'm just wondering if that could potentially be the problem or if it souns like something else. I was in there listening to some music and talking with a friend for a while and it started acting weird.

[harofreak00]

If you turn the AC on the fans should come on automatically. (doesn't always apply if the temp is below freezing, but looks like you are in the south)

[96 SSEi]

i would clean throttle body after removing and cleaning the maf, iac and tps sensors that are bolted to the tb.
yes, the ac on will trigger fans - you can unplug the coolant temp sender on the thermostat housing- than will trigger high cool on both fans.
unlike older series 2, the fans are triggered at 115 degrees, not the 90 ish of my old series 2

[chocolatcolumbo]

I think the MAF is the problem, the car stalled on me like 4 or 5 times and i scanned for codes and got something about mass air, i can't remember exactly what it was. It's just weird i cleaned the MAF when i first bought the car in september but ill try it again. Thanks for the help.

[96 SSEi]

IF CLEANING WONT HELP, UNPLUG THE MAF - keep rpm under 3000 if you drive with it unplugged