Radiator Fan

I notice quite often that my car gets up to around 216-220 before the fan will kick on(I live in a town of trains), would it hurt to just wire the fan so that it is on all the time? If so, any suggestions on where to wire it :)?

You can wire it onto a manual switch so you can turn it on when you desire.

You can also consider getting it programmed to kick on the fans sooner and maybe get a lower temp stat.

Idiots at the auto store told me I would have to get the computer reprogrammed if I got a lower-temp thermostat..the guy said it would run reall y rich...Anyway, if I went ahead and got the low-temp thermo, would I have to have the comp. on it reprogrammed also?

Well its always a general rule of thumb that its better to do program for mods like that than not to. So they are not idiots for telling you to do that, infact I find it odd you found a auto store salesman smart enough to inform you of that. Now having said that, it is not a must but like I said a good idea and will help performance wise.

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10002&catalogIdentifier=Jegs_Direct&categoryId=22271&parentCategoryId=11189

der you is...thats what you need to go with the lower thermostat to make everything work as it is suppose to.

That also makes it so that you dont have to reprogram. A tune is never a bad thing though to make sure you not running too rich. What kind of thermo did you get? Depending on your location in the country (cold climate or not) you could be ok or you might run into some issues when your motor never reaches closed loop and starts running rough.

You could also get larger fans. I know this works wonders on third gen cars. I think the flow on the stock fans is somewhere around 1200 cfm which sucks. I dont know if they upped the size on lt1 cars or not. I am assuming that your 95 is a z28?

I notice quite often that my car gets up to around 216-220 before the fan will kick on(I live in a town of trains), would it hurt to just wire the fan so that it is on all the time? If so, any suggestions on where to wire it :)?

That's 100% normal. :dunno:

That's 100% normal. :dunno:

agreed. doesn't sound like you need to do anything. if you decide to do a bypass and wire the main fan to the ignition, it'll keep it cooler but you'll have a hard time getting any warmth from the heater. probably dont care now but..winter.
but like obi wan said, thats completely normal. :evillol:

This is what I did. I connect a 1 K ohm resistor between the yellow and black wire of the connector that goes into the cooland sensor. This brings the over all resistor value lower, just like using a lower temp sensor. I didnt know you can buy one with lower reistance that fits into the same car. Originally the sensor has about 1.3 K ohm resistance. As the engine temp goes higher the sensor resistor goes lower and lower down to about 54 ohms and at that point, the computer PCM sees it and command the fans to come on. I live in Florida and I've like the fans to come on earleir or at lower engine temperature. With the 1 K ohm resistor connect to it, now I have lower resistor value to start with and it works great. The fans comes on earlier. Although you'll see your gauge goes up faster, but that's just the gauge, because both gauge and computer takes value from the same sensor of my 96 camaro. It kinda fools ths computer that the engine is already hot so the fans kicks in earlier.
Since the gauge don't really have a calibrated scale, it does not matter as long as it does not get to red the red line, no one can tell that half way is 220 or 260 degrees. I've rather reprogram the computer if I know how. If anybody could find out, please email me. For now I've look a sensor with lower value and remove my jig. It has to be in the range of 600 to 900 ohm values.

Idiots at the auto store told me I would have to get the computer reprogrammed if I got a lower-temp thermostat..the guy said it would run reall y rich...Anyway, if I went ahead and got the low-temp thermo, would I have to have the comp. on it reprogrammed also?

You do't need to reprogram the computer if you don't want to. With the lower temp sensor the computer will the see the value earlier or faster to to run the fans on. your gauge may read higher but the gauage are not graduated with numbers anyways.

FOr eaxample if the cmputer is prgram to kick on the fans at 54 ohms and your orignal sensor value is 1300, it would take longer to reach 54 ohms from 1300 that when you start at 900 ohms.

I notice quite often that my car gets up to around 216-220 before the fan will kick on(I live in a town of trains), would it hurt to just wire the fan so that it is on all the time? If so, any suggestions on where to wire it :)?

You can easily do that, but your fans will be working always even if they don't have to and in the long run cost you more because they'll break sooner.
Just get a lower temp sensor, if you are electronic geek, do what I did for now. I connected a 1 k oghm resistor across the yellow and black wires of the connector that goes into the engine coolnat sensor. This make my original sensor work like a lower temp sensor. But I going to find one with a lower temp sensor and replace the orignal sensor.

I ran for a longass time with just a 160 stat, no tuning or anything, it won't make you run rich or anything liek that. It won't affect the fan turn-on temp tho, but it will help keep temps down... and will work better once it's tuned for.

Idiots at the auto store told me I would have to get the computer reprogrammed if I got a lower-temp thermostat..the guy said it would run reall y rich...Anyway, if I went ahead and got the low-temp thermo, would I have to have the comp. on it reprogrammed also?

Could you tell me where you got your low temp sensor? I went to Autozone and the guy has no means to cross-reference with other low temp sensors. He can only see the exact matching sensor. He said that it would be nice if he could reference other same mechanical sensors with different temp ratings.

its not a sensor, it's a thermostat...

i changed thermostats, and i had no problems, I also ran a switch for the fan, on the highway its fine and on city streets i very rarely had to turn it on, i didnt have to program anything, she runs better now than ever, the stock fan doesnt kick on till somewhere around 210, too hot ! now I can keep temps under 195
the thermo i replaced was a 160

That's what I was saying, it'll be fine and run cooler like 195.. but get the fan turn-on temp tuned, and you'll be sitting just above 160 all the time like I am (BTW, you probably have a 160, i have never heard of a 170 for our cars at least) and also not need to wire in a fan switch

its not a sensor, it's a thermostat...

Thanks for the info. I went ot Autozone and I ordered the 160 degree thermostat and I'm going to install it Friday. With the thermostat opening at 160 instead of 195 and with my fans coming on earlier with my modification of coolant resistor circuit, my car would be running a lot cooler here in FL.

I found in JCWhitney, they have these temp control switches for cooling fan. Two type, one fix setting and the other adjustable. Below is the link.


http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2000903/c-10101/Nty-1/p-2000903/Ntx-mode+matchallpartial/N-10101/tf-Browse/s-10101/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=hayden

I got the 160 deg F thermostat and installed it and also with the 1 Kohm across the coolant sensor circuit that I connected. my camaro did not smell hot anymore like it used to when I parked. Today it was very hot in FL but my car ran a lot cooler with these two modications. thanks to everyone with info. Maybe I don't need the fan control switch I mentioned above.