Temperature & Temperature Gauge

1997 Grand Am SE
3.1L V6

I have a couple questions about the cooling system of the 3.1L Grand Ams. What is the normal operating temperature of these Grand Ams, and once the normal operating temperature is reached, where should the temperature gauge be? My Grand Am only had one electric cooling fan that is on the left side (driver side) of the radiator. I noticed it's not sitting flush on the radiator and I was wondering if it was suppose to be flush on the radiator or not? One last question. Can anyone recommend a quality double electric fan for these Grand Ams?

Here are the fan operations;
(it would be fan not fans on your model ga)
The PCM commands Low Speed Fans ON under the following conditions:

The engine coolant temperature exceeds approximately 106°C (223°F).
The A/C refrigerant pressure exceeds 1310 kPa (190 psi).
The vehicle is shut off when the engine coolant temperature is greater than 140°C (284°F) and system voltage is more than 12 volts. The fans will stay ON for approximately 3 minutes.

The PCM commands High Speed Fans on under the following conditions:

The engine coolant temperature reaches 110°C (230°F).
The A/C refrigerant pressure exceeds 1655 kPa (240 psi).
When certain DTCs set.

They dont set flush realy, needs to be room so it doesnt hit the rad core :eek:

Their are 100's of makers of fans just start shoppin online.
Could even try ebay.

thanks xeroinfinity. it seems like the temp. gauge on my grand am climbs to a little past the half way point if i'm in stop and go traffic or if i'm at a complete stop for awhile. and the outside temperature really doesn't matter. I wasn't sure if that was normal or not.

i started looking online for an electric fan. for my 1997 grand am i find a number of different fans. all having a different cfm number next to them. i can only assume cfm has something to do with the amount of air the fan moves. i've seen from 1200 to 2200 cfm. does anyone know what the cfm for the oem electric fan is, and what i should be looking for in an aftermarket fan or fans???

thanks all

i started looking online for an electric fan. for my 1997 grand am i find a number of different fans. all having a different cfm number next to them. i can only assume cfm has something to do with the amount of air the fan moves. i've seen from 1200 to 2200 cfm. does anyone know what the cfm for the oem electric fan is, and what i should be looking for in an aftermarket fan or fans???

thanks all

not sure what the stock cfm would be, im sure its around here somewhere... but if you do plan on getting a new fan.. the highest cfm would be great for that engine, the v6 tends to run hot, even to hot for my taste in just normal operation... :rolleyes:

thats exactly why i want to either add a second fan, or upgrad the current oem fan. while driving my grand am temp. gauge is slightly lower than the mid way point. but if i'm in stop and go traffic during the day or night, the temp. gauge slowly climbs to beyond the midway point. the highest its reached was the top of the little tempature icon on the gauge. i tried looking for a thermostat lower than the 195, but i cant find one, and i don't know if that would make a difference. i used a couple bottles of water wetter when i flushed my cooling system, but i think that only lowers the water tempertature by a few degrees.

Go with the more CFM fan :thumbsup:

You can buy a 185 deg thermostat from the stealership for like $10-12.

Napa sometimes carries them for around the same price.

ok, now i'm running into another question. its seems like the more cfm an electric fan has, the more amps it draws. one particular fan i'm looking at has 2200 cfm and draws 18.9 amps. i'm now more concerned with the amps. would this fan be drawing to many amps? should i even be concerned with the amount of amps an electric fan draws?

thanks again

Oh ya forgot about that...
If yo uhave the fan off your car it should hav the amps and power rating, I would match the replacement as close as possible. You can use a bigger amp but you'd need to install a biger Relay and probly need to run new wires too.

You might just want to find an OEM specific fan for less trouble.

thanks again xeroinfinity, you've been a great help. i'm gonna check my fan first thing in the morning.