Just yesterday, I got my first 3rd Gen...1987 Firebird 2.8; not much, but that's what crate motors are for. I would like to get the car road worthy, and it runs pretty well thanks to a rebuilt engine, except for one problem. Thanks to a little ******* engineering from the previous owner, a friend of mine, the cooling fan is now controlled by a switch on the dash. The problem I'm having is that whenever I switch on the fan, the car begins to run poorly and eventually stall. The wires are no where close to being connected to the ECM, and there is no chance of a back-feed of power. Power comes directly from the positive side of the battery, to the switch, through the fan, and back through a fender ground; no splices, no nothing. The car has a new alternator and battery (935 CA battery...this baby could start about 6 Hyundais at once!). I would guess that there is a short in the fan motor, but the fan runs strong, and there is no noticeable voltage drop even with the engine off. I'm stumped on this one, and thought i would try this before sinking $70 in a new electric fan. Any hints would be greatly appreciated!!

 

i fixed the problem myself...there wasn't sufficient engine-frame grounding; there is now thanks to a 6-gage wire