Chevy Impala Engine Hot A/C Off & Temp Gauge Not Working | Temporary Fix (2009–2013)

0:00 I'm here with this '09 Chevy Impala. And if you notice the temperature gauge is right down on cold, stop working. And let the screen go by. Now you'll notice it says engine hot AC off. I'm going to show you a quick, easy, temporary fix for this. And I'll get to more of the main issue with it and after I show you the quick and easy fix, but what's happening is now the fans are constantly going in the front of the car. The car thinks it's running hot. The temperature gauge is down on zero. So when I stopped the car, I got out, I put my hand on the engine, checked it. It was warm, normal. Then I checked the top hose, a little warm. Check the bottom one to make sure, same thing. So make sure perfect flow.

0:58 And it was fine as well, little warm. So I determined that the engine wasn't running hot. The fans were constantly going. So the electric fans there, right down here, were constantly on. And the car was running normal. It's just that it's a little bit worrisome when you see your temp gauge is not working. It your car is literally saying engine hot, AC off.

1:25 A temporary fix for that, guys, is to disconnect a battery terminal. Now, you also could pull the uh ECM bat fuse inside this one and keep it out for like 10, 15 seconds and put it back in. But that don't always fix the problem. Best way to do it is to disconnect your battery. Loosen your terminal on your positive. This is just the way I do it. You can still pull the fuse. I have some corrosion on this terminal actually that I didn't know it was there. When you disconnect a fuse, it's a good thing to go in the car. I have crows crowing here, guys. And just turn the key forward, make sure all the power is gone out of everything. And now we'll just let it wait for a few seconds

2:29 uh just to make sure everything's going to reset.

2:33 Okay, so I let a few minutes go by, cleaned up that terminal a little bit. It had some corrosion on it. Still do a little bit. I just wiped it off. Now we're going to put the terminal back on. Grab your 10 mm socket. And tighten it back up. There we go. Okay, so that's back on. Now we'll start the car. We'll know instantly if this worked if the temperature gauge goes up. Position my phone here. See guys? There it is. Now the temperature gauge is working again. Everything is on. And we'll let the system go through. And as you see, it's all fine now. So, guys,

3:52 the the actual fix and problem with this is the temperature sensor switch. And I think he's starting to fail. I think he's starting to have an issue. That's usually the root cause. So, the root cause of this is that switch. This car's probably going to work fine now for a few weeks, and it might trigger off again. And you know what? It might never trigger off again, but that is a problem. And that temperature switch on So, from I'm going to say, guys, like '06 up to probably 2013, that temperature on the on the uh I don't have the housing on this car, guys. I don't know why not. But, this is the 35 This is the 3500 engine. I don't know why I don't have the case on. For some reason, I never put it on.

4:42 And the temperature sensor switch is located right down here. You'll see when I get down there. It's right there. That's where the switch is. Right there. And I'll put a arrow on it in the editing so you can see it. Right there. So, that would be the permanent solution fix to fix that switch. I'll just show you what, guys, because here's the thing. You could leave that like that and just have it so that that your temperature hands not working, but that's not a good thing to do with your vehicle cuz what if it did actually run hot, you wouldn't know until it's possibly too late. Then you're going to hurt the engine. And the second thing is it's hard on the alternator because when that happens, so many people is going to say it doesn't,

5:35 but it do. The fans in your car are constantly on. So, the electrical fans down right right here are constantly running When that's happening, that's a drain on your alternator, a drain on everything. And also, it could wear out your fans. You don't really need to have that happening. Thanks for watching. Hope this helps. I still love the Impalas. Many, many videos on Impalas and and stuff like this about them. And I'll put it up in the window for you. I'll link to a playlist of all things related to these Impalas, Chevy Impalas. And guys, I'll see you on the next one.

6:16 So, a couple of weeks went by uh since I did that video on showing you guys how to fix that issue with the temperature gauge not working and the engine hot and it turns off the AC unit. Back to it. Um I haven't had any problems since. So, 2 weeks has went past. It's never happened again. Car's running fine. Engine's not running hot. Temperature gauge is working. Everything is good. Everything is fine. So, thanks for watching, guys. I hope this helps because like I said, the proper fix for that is changing that temperature sensor sensor. Sensor? I don't even know what a sensor is. Temperature sensor, okay? That's the best fix for it, but seems to be working fine. And I haven't seen anybody that posted videos like that with the same problem saying that it ever came back.

7:10 So, hopefully that's a good fix. And remember, that's a $0 fix, guys. It's what I made this channel for. If I could save you money on anything to do with a vehicle, I'm always going to post it. Something happens to me, I could fix it for cheap or free, I'm always going to post it and I always do. So, guys, hope that helps. Hope you're I remember, it's not only the Chevy Impala that's good for. All older style GM Silverados, uh GMC Sierras, all those vehicles, it's all the same system. It's all the same computer system, basically. So, that that [music] is a good fix for many different GM vehicles. Switch is a good one. Which is a This is a good one.

7:53 So, thanks for watching, guys. You can leave me a like and a subscribe. And if you want, you can give me a thanks. I'd greatly appreciate it. Keeps my channel going, camera gear going. And I'll see you on the next one.