My 1996 Chevy Lumina gets hot, then wont start. Is

The gauge is supposed to move. Between 190 and 210 degrees. About a 1/16 to 1/4 inch movement with the needle. If it goes from middle(200 degrees) to hot(260 degrees) and back. Check the coolant level. Air pocket in the engine. Low fans come on at about 210 degrees. High fans come on at 225 degrees. High fans come on when the A/C is turned on. And it works.

have the codes run for faults . have an accredited auto electrician check out the fuses , coolant sensor unit and the fan relay for correct operation

Yep there sure is

there is a coolant temperature sensor in the system ( normally in the vicinity of the top radiator hose /thermostat. It activates a relay that switches on the fans--normally around 85 degrees c. Check both fuse and the relay for correct operation. The sensor unit will be squarish with 2 wires in the connector.

YES

Was the car over heating before the water pump and head gaskets were replaced? Putting in a new Radiator will make it run even colder.and take even way longer than the one hour it is already taking to warm up.The computer in the car commands the engine cooling fan On/Of at a predetermined temperature.It receives this data from monitoring engine sensors such as the engine coolant temperature sensor.So if it is defective and the computer is not recognising the defect it thinks that the engine is running hot when it is realy running cold and will command that the cooling fan be on.Resulting in the fan running in 24-7 as you put it. If you want the engine to warm up faster and the cooling fan to operate normaly then I would replace the engine coolant temperature sensor and the relay for the fan circuit as well. If you need to talk to me further about this you can use the reply box below. Please let me know how this goes for you and I hope this is usefull for you. Good Luck and have a good XMASS.

the drop- electric fan is coming on to cool the overheat- the heat- sounds like thermostat is bad-replace

That is the normal if your taking about the radiator ran, as long as the engine is hot, the radiator fan will run till the engine cools down enough for the temperature sensor to turn off the radiator fans. Your Saturn is 2003 and if you have not serviced the cooling system it may be time. The orange antifreeze has a life of 5 years or 150,000 miles and the green antifreeze has a life of 1 year or 30,000 miles. If the antifreeze has not been replaced, it may be a good thing to have the system flushed out with Preston radiator flush and then the antifreeze replaced with a 50/50 mix (water/antifreeze). If your not sure how to mix the antifreeze, you can buy them 50/50 premixed, With then new coolant, your engine can transfer the heat much better and will cool down faster. Note, too much water will boil over and too much antifreeze will gel up causing over heating. Good luck and hope this helps, keep me posted, be glad to answer any questions you may have. 

ok there is a sensor the one control the fans but you can find a load information just go to autozone.com and aalso you can find the location of the sensor too

Didn't test fan with direct 12 v power before replacing eh? Checked fan relay & temperature sensor?