248 degrees, is this normal?
 

Hi,

Tonight I started my HHR up, and then went back inside for a while. It was running for about 30-40 minutes, I kinda got distracted and forgot I left it running. Normally, I don't do that. When I got in, the Coolant Temp. was 248*. No Warning Lights, etc. were on. I am worried it may be beginning to overheat again. Is this normal? I drove it down the road and the Temp. dropped quickly. It got back down to 194* after I had been driving it a while. I'm pretty sure the radiator is fine. I just had a new one installed in December. Even in heavy stop-and-go traffic, it has been fine. Could it maybe be a fan, or some setting, something of that nature? What do you think?

Thanks,
Tyler

Was it parked in a garage or other location that would prevent normal air flow?

I would think your fans should have cut in.....somewhere near 220 (don't remember the exact temp. specified by GM engineering).

Check to see if the fans will operate.....or after the new radiator, they forgot to connect the fans.

Sounds like the cooling fan failed to come on for some reason. Mine will kick in at about 215 degrees or so, and pulls it back to about 189 or so, pretty quickly. To me 248 sounds a bit on the warm side.

Was the fan running when it was hot? If it cooled down when it was moving it might be that the electric fan isn't working but air moves through when the vehicle is in motion.

I agree with snoopy, fans should have been running. This time of year it shouldn't have gotten anywhere near that hot if they worked. Maybe there was some unseen/un-noted damage there when they did the repairs, better have it checked.

It wasn't parked in a garage. It was parked outside in the parking lot. I had driven it earlier today. Come to think of it, I cannot remember the last time I've heard the fan come on. It used to come on around 217-219* for me, but it's been a long time since I noticed it kick in. When I got out there, it was not on. I don't usually leave it idling that long, so it usually doesn't have the opportunity to get that high. Maybe my fan has failed...

suggest you have the DIC set on motor temp, let idle & see if fan comes on.
Don't let it get too hot tho.....

I find it VEEEEEERRRRRYYYY hard to believe it was actually 250 degrees.

Turn your car on and kick the a/c on, that should kick the fans on.

I will do that!

It said that on the DIC, I'm not kidding you. I didn't think that was normal, something must be wrong with my fan. But my HHR does have 141,000 miles on it, and it has been incredibly reliable. It's been a long time since I've had to fix anything other than "routine" stuff.