Sorry to beat a dead horse!
I recall a while back there was a thread where someone mentioned the
T-stat opens vs fan activates for optimal cooling.

T-stat opens before fan comes on
Or
Fan comes on before T-stat opens?

Thanks for any help!!

 

T-stat first, how is cooling a cold radiator gonna do any good. Now thats beating a dead horse.

 

I run a 195 year-round.
It's 120deg. F here lately.
Combustion makes heat and kinetic energy to the crank. Trying to run the engine cooler slurps energy from the combustion chamber.

Fan temp on some apps are in the 220 range. Keep in mind, that's not boiling in a closed, pressurized (radiator cap stock in a third gen is 15psi) system.

Thermostats don't cool, they set a minimum temp.
Airflow and fans do help the radiator shed heat; if the turn-on temp were lower than the thermostat, they would potentially run endlessly which is pointless.

 

Thanks for the replies // info!!

 

t stat opens before fan comes on- if the cooling system is in good shape, the fans will never come on if the car is moving faster than about 20mph unless you turn the AC on.
i have a 195 t stat in my car, with a switch that turns the fan on at 220 and off at 210.. works perfect..

 

Running the fans before the thermostat opens doesn't do much but cool the radiator (that's not circulating any coolant). So it's a waste of energy and fan motor life to run a 166° radiator turn on point on a car with a 195° thermostat.

Of course the whole thing is moot if you live in a hot climate anyways, since turning on the A/C will generally turn on the fans even though the engine is still cold.