to be honest i have no idea. im gonna have to check my haynes manual quick to find out

I believe its on the thermostat housing.

I think this is one of those situations where I would need to see it for myself. The t-stat sounds like it might be the cause. If it isnt opening then the temps will just rise and rise. Guess it is the 'spike' you are talking about that is confussing me.

i checked the haynes manual and it gave me a few ways to determine whether or not the thermostat is working. im gonna go do that and report back. hopefully with good news.

Yea. Take it out and put it in boiling water to see if it opens.

if you get everything working properly, are you gonna take it down to philly dyno works for the dyno meet on 11/10? If you are, i'm riding shotgun. It would be a good opportunity to get a wideband reading and see where your a/f's are at. Even chat with alex and see what he can do about getting you all tuned up.....that guy knows dsm's inside and out, i'm sure he can help you with tuning

yea i plan on goin down so you're more than welcome to ride shotty.

any word on the t-stat?

not yet. got really sidetracked yesterday trying to find myself a costume for halloween. i'll give a report after i get back from class

i was just doing some reading in my haynes manual and got some more insight to the problem..first, could it be a bad water pump? i really hope not cause thats a bitch to do. 2nd, do i really have to drain the coolant to remove the t-stat to check it? i really dont have a way to drain the system right now. this is getting really annoying

No you don't have to drain the fluid in the coolant system to change the thermostat. Just open the thermostat housing and its right there. Take it out, replace it, whatever. Fluid will drip down on your trans though. Just put some towels right below the housing to get any of the fluid. It's cake.

i figured it would be that easy but this stupid manual says otherwise.

Haynes is junk. Always try to find the actual service manual that the dealership boys use. Im sure someone has a scanned copy of it somewhere. I love mine.

Yea some are good some are bad. My buddies FSM for his 240 is terrible.

t-stat out. completely different than the one i bought. and there is a huge puddle of coolant under my car. sweet.

so, replaced the t-stat, refilled coolant since i spilled everywhere, and went for a drive. everything was good until i had to sit in traffic. temps were normal then as im sitting there the gauge goes up, awesome. so i finally get moving again and temps go back down? right into normal range. stop again, temps rise super high. drive again, temps back down. it actually just dawned on me that i dont think my fans are kicking on so that could be a huge factor in the temp gauge going up but i got out of the car and the overflow tank was boiling/releasing air bubbles. im so confused at this point. :help:

You should be able to tell if your fans are comming on or not. Just warm the car up and let it sit for a minute to see if they come on. They should kick on at idle after just a little bit.

I am not sure how the DSMs are wired but with some ECUs, they control a relay that will turn your fans on once your coolant reaches a certain level. If that is happening then it can definitely spike your temps at a stop. Check to see if they are comming on. If they arent, then grab a buddy with a good milti-meter and check for continuity along the relay. It really depends on whether it is a normally open or normally closed relay.

i wonder if one of the things i fried on the ecu controls the fans?

ninja edit: just checked and the burned crap doesnt control the fans.

Do the idle fan test and report back to us.

Burp the coolant system. Sounds to me like you have air trapped in there somewhere.