gen 1 cooling question

Robert1994

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My '94 has been converted to a '99 engine cooling fan. Does
anyone know how to test the fan to make sure it's working ?
My car gets up to an indicated 190 or so degrees, yet the
cooling fan has yet to begin to operate. I am afraid to just
let it keep running and get hotter. I don't want to ruin the
engine by overheating it. I know I can go straight to the
fan motor with power, but I want to make sure the sensors
are functioning properly.
 

Serious Eric

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Did the same thing to my 95. Ran it at the track that way a couple of weekends ago and I was quite pleased with how much cooler it ran. Peak temps (usually at idle) are down 10-15 deg F. What I've noticed is that when idling on grid (no airflow), the temp goes up to the last normal range hashmark prior to the red zone. I can't tell from that crummy gauge exactly what that is but I think it's about 220F. As soon as it hits that point you can hear the fan kick on with quite a whirring noise. Stays on and brings the temp right back down to 190F in no time at all. When car is pushing air, even at WOT the temp never gets to 220F so 99 fan performance is hard to evaluate.

I would say that although you changed to a 99 fan module, you haven't change the ECU. This means that the fan on/off thresholds have not changed on your car only the amount of airflow drawn when fan is on.
 

phiebert

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Mine is a '94 "Canadian" car so it registers in Celsius degrees instead of fahrenheit degrees (your measurement). But 90 degrees Celsius is equal to 194 for you. My fan won't kick in until well above that. I would say that my fan roughly won't kick in until at least 210 degrees with the stock fan.

I would recommend just stopping at the side of the road and let it dle for 10 to 20 minutes and keep your eye on the fan. I was concerned about whether my fan works too so this is what I did. This way, if your fan doesn't cut in you can start driving and get some wind past the rad to cool it down. But I have to tell you it took quite a while and a well above the normal range to get the fan to cut in. I assume your gauge has two longer dark stripes for showing the normal operating range and then a smaller one in the middle for dead-center. It has to get well above these marks for the fan to cut in. The bottom line is, it's probably working but just takes a little more heat to cut in, then it will cool off very quickly.

PS. You will probably see it cool off first when your thermostat opens before the fan starts. Wait until this happens and then the heat goes up again and the fan will cut in.
 
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Robert1994

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Thanks guys,
I sell engine parts and components, and one of the things
we sell is aluminum cylinder heads. I always have to ask
myself how these folks could not notice their engines
over-heating. I guess it just makes me a little more cautious.
 

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