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Re: Electric cooling fan kick on question?? Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Mon, 4 Mar 2002 12:08:10
In Reply to: Electric cooling fan kick on question??, JJB, Sun, 3 Mar 2002 15:13:07 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Assuming a stock fan thermoswitch, the fan doesn't kick on until the RADIATOR gets to 89degrees C. That's usually where the temp needle is about 3/4 - half way between the "9:00" position and Red. But remember, the temp gauge shows the engine temperature, and the fan reads the Radiator temp.
It can be confusing, but the gauge doesn't read radiator temp. Depending on airflow and if the thermostat is open, the radiator and engine may be quite a few degrees different.
The engine thermostat controls coolant flow to the radiator. If your thermostat is getting old and a little sticky, the engine can run warm and the radiator fan not run much, because that hot coolant isn't making it to the radiator.
You ran the engine hard, and it's going to take some time for that heat load to work its way out of the system. It makes sense the gauge would run up a bit. But at 85+ mph, there was gobs of airflow over the radiator, so the radiator would be nice and cool. It's going to take a while to heat it up enough for the fan switch to turn the fans on.
Most of the later cars have a two speed fan. The low speed comes on at 90C, and the high speed at 100C. The high speed is basically the Red zone on the temp gauge. It rarely ever comes on. So if you see the fan coming on before the red, then I'm pretty sure you're seeing the low speed fan running.
So what you're seeing seems pretty normal. However, if you haven't changed the thermostat in a couple of years, it wouldn't hurt to put in a new one. I've installed a 82C thermostat and a 82C fan switch, and things run much cooler.
Good luck!
posted by 140.157....
, Mon, 4 Mar 2002 12:08:10 <-- Viewing This Message
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