I had just got the car and the didnt kick on at all. for a tempory solution i cut the wire leading the the fan and since my 1le doesnt have A/C I hook that wire up the the heater fan switch so I could turn it in myself. that worked great but it bugged me so I eventually took it to a garage and it fixed. they said it was a relay in my water pump that was out. they fixed that and now the kicks on by its self but not until about 250 degrees. on my car the gauge only goes to 260 and the fan comes on right when the needle hits the first little red mark. It really pisses me off cause the garage I took it to looked at it and said thats what it is supposed to do. I know that cant be right.

What should I do. I am about to park it and but a 1998 SS. I want something I can put in the deep 12's with bolt ons. And I dont want to modify my 1le cause of how rare it is. But I do know that my 100% stock 1le can keep up with a ls1 camaro up to about 85-90...is that good? I can out run a Mitsubishi 3000GT Vr-4 (IS that a long name for a car or what) it is a twin turbo 6 cyl with like 300 hp and 310 torque but thats at about 7000 rpm. So UI love my 1le but I want to keep the miles down and get a newer more reliable car. OOPS I went a little rant there but anyway back to my problem. Does anyone know what is wrong with my baby. Why is it overheating so bad. I know the darn fan should kick on before 250 degrees. Any info would be greatly appreciated

 

you could swap in a fan switch that kicks in at a cooler temp. My old fan switch kicked in at about 225, then i had to get a new replacement one and it turns the fan on about the same point that yours does. I used to have AC but deleted it, now i can just use the AC controls to turn on my fan. Hypertech makes a fan switches that kick in at around 180-200, check summit and jegs or a locate auto parts store for a lower temp switch. If you dont know where the fan switch is, it is between the cylinders 6 and 8 (passengers side) in the cylinder head.

 

That's what I was thinking. Get yourself a fanswitch that turns on at a lower temp. Plus the other thing is replace the thermostat. Your's might be sticking. You could drop to a 180 without any problems. Also make sure the air dam is still on the bottom of the car. Also check to make sure the radiator is not covered with crap.

Good luck and keep us informed.

PS..keep the 1LE!

 

Just so you know. Your 1le doent use a fan switch that i know of. Since you done have AC you dont have dual fans. A friend of mine has a 90 1le, all he has done to it was a chip from performance reasources. He didnt even change the stat. He has also put an edelbrock water pump on. Car only has 5k on it, so im sure low mileage help too.

 

Mine did that too on my old 305 motor. I ended up grounding the passenger side fan to a strut tower bolt and have it run constant with the key on. Havent had any problems since. I also replaced everything in the cooling system, didnt make much difference. Just wasnt getting air. The car runs now at about 180 and every so often it will climb to 220 if its real hot out and standing in traffic. the stock fan switch is set at like 220-230. 210 is about normal temp. for the cars. Thats what they ran from the factory.