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Radiator Fan


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Hey everyone, I had one of my mechanics (more like family friend) check out my car for an overheating problem, and he said that we need to get a new radiator fan. I guess what's happening is that the coolant is sitting still and it's not flowing throughout the whole system and such causing the coolant itself to get extremely hot and causing the overflow tank to bubble up and steam alot of coolant out of the tank. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or places on which I could order just the fan? and not the radiator system itself? Does that make sense anyone?? Thanks!

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No, it doesn't make sense. If the coolant is actually sitting still then either the cooling system thermostat is stuck closed (which would cause severe engine overheating after driving the car just 3-4 miles) or the water pump isn't pumping (but water pumps nearly always leak coolant and become very noisy long before they actually stop pumping) . Maybe what the mechanic really means is the radiator fan clutchisn't engaging and therefore the radiator fan isn't spinning fast enough to cool the radiator when you are stopped at a street light or driving slowly around town or stuck in slow moving traffic. Under what driving conditions does the engine run hot?

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the engine doesn't run hot at all, but i do think you have it right about the radiator fan clutch isn't engaging, it makes more sense that way. we've already changed the thermostat thinking that it was the source of the problem, but the coolant still bubbled in the overflow

oh yeah, my dad told me that i should let the car running for an hour or so without the radiator cap on, so i did that, supposedly i should be able to see the coolant being circulated and what not... after aruond an hour i checked it out and it was just sitting there, so i decided to turn on the a/c for around 30 minutes. after the 30 minutes had passed by, i checked again and the coolant was slowly coming out of the system through where the cap was. when i switched the cold a/c to heat, the coolant stopped overflowing and went down a little but stayed still for the most part.... that's about as much as i tested out before letting our mechanic check it out

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Uh, correct me if I'm wrong but I don't seem to remember the '93 GS as having a mechanical fan; hence no fan clutch.

The electric fan should be kicking in with the AC engaged and some time after when the engine has reached 190 - 207 deg. F.

If the fan isn't working, check the temperature sensor and the fan relays.

If the coolant isn't flowing, one radiator hose will be much colder than the other one. If this is the case, it's either the thermostat or the water pump.

The system may boil over with the radiator cap removed as it is a closed, pressurized system. When the system is closed, the increased pressure raises the boiling point of the coolant. When the system is open, the boiling point is reduced and the coolant expands. Therefore, it can expand to the point where is overflows the system.

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if it were possible right now i would go outside and take pictures of the parts that my mechanic was referring to, unfortunately i can't... i think the fan he was referring to is right in front of the radiator with the air duct right above it. and to answer lenore, no the thermostat was not put in backwards, we installed the same way as the previous thermostat so that's unlikely the cause of the problem. so would it be logical for me to change the water pump even though if it were to be the water pump, it would've been loud, leaky, and noisy well before it stopped working like monarch said.... again thanks for everyone's input so far

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hmm.. a little update, apparently there is a fan clutch in the 93 gs300, because my dad told me to look online for 'just' the fan and not the fan clutch, it'd be awesome if someone could help me out with that as well =)

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A little off topic but maybe you could all help with this too. I'm 20 and going to be 21 ina few months. I've had 2 traffic violations (1 speeding, 1 rolling stop at the same time, same cop) and an accident that WAS NOT reported to the police. In turn, this will give me 8 total points on my record, theoretically, would the accident affect my insurance rate with an insurance company even though no report was made?? and how long does it normally take for the points to clear up?? currently past 3 years since the accident, and almost 4 years since the tickets

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Ah yes, there is a fan and clutch in the '93. (My service data was wrong again.) There is also an electric fan in the front. The clutch on the engine fan is a possible cause to your problem.

Make sure you don't have a coolant flow problem, check the heat set on hi with the car warmed up. If the heat coming from the vents is not hot-hot, expect a flow problem. I.E. water pump, air in the system, blockage.

You never did exactly say under what conditions the problem of overheating occurs, at what outside temperatures, or during what kind of driving, etc. This info would be helpful.

If in fact the clutch was your only problem, the car should not overheat while driving 55MPH on a cool day, at least until you stop for instance. When the car is moving, the natural flow of air over the radiator would cool it.

You see why it is important to know exactly how, when, and where your problem occurs.

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The problem started last summer, it was very hot, the a/c was used for apparent reasons, after the car overheated that one day, i was so scared to drive it since lol, but now it's roughly the end of winter and the car drove just fine for a few hours, the heat coming through was hot-hot and my car heated up very nicely, however, the flow of the coolant wasn't visible when i checked it out under the radiator cap. i was also told that it's not the radiator fan, but the fan for the water pump, sorry about that, i'm really debating on selling this GS and getting a newer 1st generation GS, what do you all think i should do?

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You still havn't told us the driving conditions under which the car overheats. Example: does it run hot when crusing at a steady highway speed or only when stopped or creeping along slowly in traffic.? What are the temperature gauge readings under the different driving conditions? What does the gauge do when you idle the car in the driveway for 30 minutes?

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it ran hot last summer just from casual driving (35-45 mph) cruising, when i stopped at a stop light, i could see steam coming from coolant overflow tank. when that happened i would go to my destination and leave my car there for many hours before coming back to it and driving it back one, only on one occasion that the temp gauges were at the max, and i was literally scared like none other of something bad happening like an explosion or something. but recently though, after driving around in the car casually again (35-45 mph) the temp gauges were right around the halfway mark, maybe a little higher. when i idled the car in the driveway, the temp gauges remained constant and did not go above the halfway mark if it did, it was literally by a hair or so

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  • 9 years later...

Did you fix the problem? I am having the same problem on my 93 GS300. The coolant sprayed over the electrical and now it will hardly run.

The car runs cool on the freeway but over heats in the city. I'm thinking it's the electrical fan.

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