Not an uncommon missing part unfortunately. You definitely want it. That is a critical part of the cooling system on these cars and it’s easy to break them off hitting steep entrances or parking curbs.
You can disconnect the temp switch for the fans and ground the wire. The fans should turn on. If I recall, it does need to get pretty hot before they will kick in due to temp. 230 wouldn’t surprise me.
AC leaked out during storage, not an uncommon problem. I’ve used the recharge cans with sealant and they tended to work for a season but problem returned next year. Only you can decide if it’s worth the cost to fix that. Depends on your situation; climate, financial position.
Thanks for the info. The AC is probably not worth the hassle for multiple reasons. 1. I don’t think it was ever converted from R12 to R134a. I know not the biggest pain but since I do plan on putting a V8 in at some point, It doesn’t seem worth the hassle. Again, that’s what T-Tops are for lol.
So the point about grounding the sensor. Which sensor are we talking about now? I’ve seen so much mention of different switches and sensors and can’t seem to get a clear understanding of which one is which.
If memory serves me correctly that oem T stat is a 195 or 220…not uncommon to see that. You also need to find the temp sensor that triggers your fan it should be different than the one that operates your gauge cluster.
The A/C cycling is because you have a refrigerant leak and now are low on pressure
I was highly considering swapping in a new Thermostat. The common ones at parts stores are about 180-190. Would definitely be an improvement.
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Look into the sensor that triggers the fan…
There are two parts, a switch and a sender. The sender is a variable resistor that drives the gauge. The switch just closes when a set temperature is reached. That drives the fans. It’s been too long to recall exactly where they are located but my memory is that the switch is near the thermostat housing. It will have a single wire and uses the block as ground. I think the temp sensor is on a head and has two wires.
The V6 may be different. Mine had the 305 V8. Was a pretty fun car, like driving a rollerskate 
Here you go- https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/v6/462128-location-all-sensors-v6.html
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Yeah this was the forum I was looking at before. a few comments down the one person shows two pics. The first pic labeled Temp sensor (coolant): Front top of engine, underneath the [throttle body]" is the one I unplugged which shot the temp gauge up immediately, kicked the fan on and killed the engine (my guess was since the temp gauge maxed, it thought the engine was overheating and shut itself down.
The second picture is the sensor that I actually replaced but it wasn’t replaced with the same thing.
What was in the camaro looked like this -
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b/murray-climate-control-4379/lighting---electrical-16777/switches-16486/engine-switches-25047/cooling-fan-switch-11838/0b2910ca2dc9/murray-climate-control-1-terminal-temperature-switch/35946/4517355/1991/chevrolet/camaro?q=fan+switch&pos=4
Meanwhile what I replaced it with looked like this. https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b/masterpro-ignition-4352/engine-sensors---emissions-25132/engine-sensors-25049/coolant-temperature-sensor-sender-switch-11362/aec49c4ca931/masterpro-ignition-1-terminal-temperature-switch/28335/4506466/1991/chevrolet/camaro?q=fan+switch&pos=6
I was told the device I got was a revision. The green cable from the second pic of the forum link plugged into the slot from the second oreilly link so idk if that worked or not. Like i said, all these cables and sensors are getting rather confusing.
Yes…it has been a while. I think they have the info needed to get a handle on this… I sometimes miss my 80’ Camaro. Came with a V6 but I fixed that problem using my back yard and a tree and a 70’ Impala. After that I started to mod that 350 for more powah… I still have some pics lying around with me smoking the tires in an abandoned parking lot circa 89’-90’.
Where has the time gone I ask?
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Couldn’t tell you considering I was only born in 93 lol.
My camaro is older than I am.
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I can’t help with the cooling problem but your model of Camaro is one of the designs I like.
But why would you choose what you did for a screen name ?
It’s honestly what I use for everything. Youtube, Twitch, Steam, any forums i join.
Heh, heh. That conjures up a lot of images and many of the same kind of memories for me and my friends. You used what you had to get it done. Learned a heck of a lot in the process.
Everybody was down on the 700R4 but I had good luck with the one in that car and several others. Seemed to handle anything I put to it. Granted, it wasn’t obscenely overpowered like some of my other rides but I was asking a lot of it… 
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Ok so she’s definitely broken. The fan did not kick on at all. the temp gauge on the dash pushed almost fully to the red and there was steam coming from the engine bay.
From the test I ran before, pulling the coolant sensor raised the internal temp gauge to max, killed the engine but did cause the fan to spin. We know the fan works. This would indicate the me that the relay works as well. This also indicates all wiring is intact. I believe that leads us back to either the switch I put in not being the right one to turn the fan on or something to do with the ECM not triggering the fan. See the above comment that shows pics of what I replaced with and what. I can definitely put a new proper switch in if this one is incorrect but I’m not sure where else to go from here. I did plan on putting a new thermostat on as well but it will have to wait. I’m trying to find aftermarket fan switches that are supposed to be rated for lower temps but finding those seems rather difficult.
Here’s the problem I see- there are two different devices used on your engine (to the best of my knowledge and Rockauto shows both); a switch and a sender.
Pulling the switch wire should not affect your temp gauge, that is controlled by a two wire interface. Have you verified you have both devices?
Pulling the wire for one does not prove that the interface for the other is functional.
Pulling the wire for the switch should not kill the engine. It should have no effect because that is the same as low temp (open switch). When the engine temp exceeds the switch value, it closes and completes the circuit. So shorting the wire to ground would create the same situation as an over temp condition.
You can test the switch by measuring resistance at room temp and then after heating it up. It should be open when cool and closed when hot.
Now the sender may have different reaction to being disconnected. I would expect the gauge to go full scale (hot) as that is default safe state if it fails- indicating overheat vs normal or cold temp. Whether or not that should cause the ECM to shut down the engine, I don’t know for sure. But I would suspect it would not. That would be a huge liability issue for the manufacturer if your engine shut off unexpectedly (on purpose) at any given time the engine was overheating. It is safer to let the engine be destroyed but allow operator to have control to pull over when safe to do so. So something seems strange about that result you got when disconnecting the single wire device which should be the switch…
It wasn’t the single wire I disconnecte. I have the single green wire connector that connects on the drivers side. then I have the large connector with several wires including a yellow and black wire that I pulled. I think i showed pics of it above. TBH at this point I’m not sure what I’m pulling or what I shouldn’t be. These different wires and connectors are getting more and more confusing.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/v6/462128-location-all-sensors-v6.html
Edit: Using the link above there are two pictures shown early on in the pafe, one with a single green wire with a connector and one above the compressor with several wires. the one with several wires is what I pulled.
wow I’m dumb. I’ve been linking everything since I didn’t think you could post pics. Now someone in that fporum also mentioned that the 3.1 doesn’t use a fan switch but is completely controlled by the CTS and ECM. Don’t know if that’s valid or not. I’d guess not if that second pic is the switch as i thought. But also I’m dumb because in the first pic I disconnected the cable from the connector in the person’s hand…not from the actual sensor…lord knows what else I disconnected by unplugging that connector.
Ok so slight update .I went out to my car during my lunch break to toy with it. I disconnected the proper sensor this time (the yellow and black wire sensor) the car remained running, the fans did not come on and the temp gauge remained flatlines against 100. I plugged it back in and disconnected the harness i did before and i had the same results as before minus fan spinning…
