James's 99 Miata

[ViPER1313]

For what it's worth, I found turning the AC on in mine, which kicked on the 2nd fan, would also solve the issue, but screw that.

See that's the thing though, the problem doesn't come up unless I have the AC on in the first place. With it off the car never goes over halfway up the gauge no matter how fast I'm going

The ac system adds a huge thermal load to the engine. The AC coil in front of the radiator is a radiator itself when the AC is on, pre-heating all air moving through the radiator.

So yep, problem solved. Took out the mesh grill and no problem. Thanks for the help!

Glad it worked