1996 model

On the way to work this morning the CEL came on, but it was driving fine, so I thought nothing of it.

Tonight when I went to leave, I hard time starting her up. After 3-4 long tries she finally fired up, but the second I touched the accelerator she died.

Tried cranking her over again, but this time noticed that the radiator fans were whizzing away (engine was cold). Again, she finally fired up, and this time I let her idle for a minute before touching the accelerator.

Drove home fine. Check engine light still on

Have not done the diagnostics CEL thing yet but am looking for some clues

Any ideas what this could be? Thinking it may be the temp sensor, but I do not see how that would prevent the car from starting easily.

Any help is appreciated

 

With those symptoms i would say its the coolant temp sensor.