Just wondering, what are some advantages and disadvanages of having your engine fan on all the time. I think the person i baught the car from had it set up so that she would be on all the time when the car is on.. Now is this causing a power to the engine problem that AC gives yea when she's on. Or is this just a good thing all around for a car to have..
thanks guys

 

well, u don't want ur fan on at highway speeds.. plus depending on where u live, it might take a little longer for ur engine to heat up.. but mostly its gonna just grag on ur alternator and migh wear out ur fan motor

 

well my main concern was if i was losing some power because of the fan always being on.. im sure the old open element is loving it though! heh

 

wait, is it mechanical or electric.. wasn't 82 the only year 3rd gens had mechanical? in that case yes it probably is taking some power from ur engine.

 

hmm not quite sure what yea mean by mechanical or electric.. if i posted a pic of it could yea tell by it which it is?

 

mechanical - the fan is attatched to the water pump via a shaft. and the fan blads are metal.

electric - the fan is attatched to a motor, fan blad assebly is plastic.

if i remember correctly the 82 was the only year that got mechanical

 

Alright well i guess she's mechanical then.. now my next question would be how would i go about correcting this situation.. i guess it gets pretty involved with making it so it comes on only when she starts to get hot. what about if i were to make it so it doesn't come on at all.. i live up in alberta canada and the temp uasually is only around 20ish in the summer.. for short trips or even highway driving i think this would be alright?the cars a LG4 and is already under powered as it is and dont need more loss..
any replys on this would be great..

 

i guess u could see if u could order a clutch that comes on at a certain temp.. i think the ones in the 82 supposed to cut off at high rpms.. check with summit racing and see if u can get a fan clutch from them.. or think about going to a junk yard and picking up an electric cooling fan setup..

 

I live in TX and my fan is on all the time or else my car heats up. Is this a bad thing? At highway speeds temp is around 160-180.

 

is ur fan on when the car starts? or is it wired to run all the time?? give us some specs about ur car

 

yes the moment the car starts the fan starts spinning.. the lower the rpms's the lower it will spin.. like when the car is first started and the rpm's are around 2000 and ready to be kicked down, it will be spinning very fast and then nice and slow when the rpm's are back around 800..i was doing some searches on this on the boards and it seems that this is normal for a mechanical fan setup. because the are attched to the water pump or somethin and they are on all the time.. is this correct?

 

i run my fan all the time, no problems what so ever........why wouldnt you want your fan on at highway speeds? even if it cycles on and off it would still come on eventually

 

Well at highway speeds i think you have enough airflow under your hood going that the fan is just using up extra energy.. i also got a little coul hood too so that helps in the cooling process.. as far as having the fan run all the time, i just wanted to make sure that i was not robing the engine of any power by having it on all the time.. that was my main concern..

 

The mechanical fan on your 82 T/A is taking some horsepower from your car. If you want, you can do a few things to minimize the horsepower loss.
1) Replace the standard belt with a "Ribbed" V-belt
the ribs allow the belt to bend easier, and reduces friction making the ribbed belts much more efficient

2) Get an Underdrive Crank pulley. This slows the speed of the accessories [fan, alternator, water pump, etc..] The slower they turn the less horsepower they take from the engine. However they won't perform as well, the alternator may put out less of a charge, the water pump spins slower making the car a bit hotter.

Not much to be done, but you might feel a difference after all is said and done. There's more power to be gained elsewhere though.

 

the most effcient thing u can do is to get an electric fan setup,
you will notice a difference