And Thank You all that Hazard a response after that invocative Title.

After Swapping in A stock 305 single electric fan into my 85 Lg4, I have Been Seemingly having some Chargeing problems.


I pulled the Motor and put it back In a week later, When i did So i took the oppertunty to Swap to a 9.99 fan out of a LO3 car I got at the Junkyard. The Fan works perfectly.

To set it Up, I Got a 30 amp inline fuse, a 30 amp relay, and some 10 gauge stranded. There are Two hots coming off the battery, one is the large gauge To the starter, and the other is about an 8 gauge going someplace i cannt recall at 3:00 AM.

Anyhow, I spliced right into the smaller of the Two Wires and Hooked it VIA the inline fuse into My Relay.

I then sent juice from the relay to the hot side of the Fan, and from there out to ground.

In an effort to get the car On the road with Limited Funds And Time, I wired the Relay To the Choke Lead, Wich is a switched Hot. This allows the Fan to come On With the ingition and off with It as well. The Electric choke is Not installed, So this lead was just "Dangleing".

Now, this all seems to work fine except I just killed My battery.

So i figured, all the hard starting trying to get the Motor fired up for the first time and everything prolly killed an already weak battery, So i went out and bought a new one.


problem is, its seeming to go too ( after only a few hours of driving Im getting hard starts )

My Voltage gauge is only showing me Right below 13 at cruise, with only minutte fluctuations. ( with headlights, windsheild wipers ECT on )

Except when I turn the acc's Off, It dosent go up at all.


Now, A possibly related problem is at idle in gear, Sitting at a stoplight for instance, It dies after 30 or so seconds of idle. 700R4 Car.

It will idle all day long In neutral and Once i get up to speed it runs fine.

Lastly, The choke light stays on. Since I don't have an electric choke installed, the Hot lead for it goes right to the relay. I had figured The light was staying on because of the constant load demand of the relay, But Since the light also doubles as a chargeing system warning light, It occurs to me that Perhaps It is indicative of Another problem.


Specifics as far as electrical go, Stock except A Vac advance dist ( stock from 79 firebird ) and MSD superconductors. Stock coil module ect.

Elec Fan Jerry rigged as described above.

Computer pretty Much Disabled at this point, But Nothing "removed" And everything inside the Car is Intact.

Regular old Cd player, No amps Or anything.

And just the stock Lights, No funny Halogens or anything like that.


What I think is happening, Is Possibly My alternator is taking a turn for the worse, and cannot keep up with the demands of my electrical system. Either This is because of the addition of the relatively large current draw of the fan, or just an old alternator.

OR, the Method with Wich I wired the fan was haphazard, And has caused a problem that I cannot see myself.


So, My Question is, Did I do anything wrong With my procedure ? If Not, Then Will running my elec fan requie a higher amperage alt perhaps ?


If the answer is No on both of these, Then I suspect the alt itself is Just at the end of its days, thats simple ($$) enough to fix.


Thanks For your time, Electrical In practice is not one of my Strong points.

Of course, after my series of "help!" posts These last few days, My seemingly "strong points" are Few and Far between




------------------
60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver

Just another Hot Rod kid, or thats what they all tell me.
Livin' the Stereotype

 

hook your fan relay directly to the positive on the battery. you may need to repair the small red lead that you spliced into. Do not run your fan constantly, but put it on a thermostatic switch.

a 12v wire on your engine should be part of a harness that comes from your firewall on the drivers side, and go to your electric choke. That wire should be taped up so that it doesn't short against anything metal.

you should not need any special alternator to run your fan & accessories.

 

you're right it went right over my head. i had to stop reading about half way down i was so confused. i tihnk the choke light is part of the charging circut on your car. when the choke light is on you have charging problems. if it worked fine before you changed things you need to switch whatever it was you changed back. get the altanator checked to see if it works. you also ought to get someone else to back me up because i'm not 100% sure on the choke light. i'm about 99% sure.

------------------
ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond Lodge 538 F&AM

 

I would have the alternator checked.

The only problem I could see with wiring the fan direct (constant) with a temp sensor in line to actuate the fan (as ODB said) is that when the car is hot and you shut it off, the fan would still run until the temp dropped. (or did I misread that..?? )

I would find a key operated power lead and run the power to the relay from there and use a temp sensor as the trigger.

------------------
ASE Mechanic/Machinist/Smog Tech

1999 NBM Trans Am
1986 Chevy 3/4 ton pick up
1981 corvette
1995 Kawi ZX6R

R.I.P. #3
My favorite quote about D.E. "He can see air"

[This message has been edited by Engineboy (edited April 07, 2001).]

 

just a suggestion: why don't you wire up the fan the same way as on a elec-fan equiped third gen? it might help avoid some confusion. Also, like someone just said, you really need to wire it to some thermostatic devise. get your alternator and battery checked at an auto store (It's autozone's policy to help you figure out the problem, so they would be a good place(and also I work there)).

 

Yeah, I actually plan a Thermo + manul switch, But No tango Deneiro At the present time.


Ede, I didn't Mean that As an Insult, Just That it seems that 90% of the posts I make on here get 1-2 Responses at most, AS I tend to stray away from the " how much HP will this mod give me " Type of banter, and Keep it "Tech"

So usually it Takes someone Who knows what they are Doing/talking about to reply


Ive got a real strong suspicion about the alternator, Now that you have Dispelled my fan wiring error Worries. Ill See about having it checked out today, and let You guys know


Thanks Alot.


And Engineboy, One of these days We should get Together, I want to Show You Whave Ive Done, And See What You think




------------------
60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver

Just another Hot Rod kid, or thats what they all tell me.
Livin' the Stereotype

 

bort: you misunderstood me i didn't take it as an insult at all. i was just being silly and having a little fun. not that most of the post here don't go over my head.

------------------
ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond Lodge 538 F&AM

 

Good Then


With all the recent Posts that Developed In to unpleaseant flame wars, I wanted to make sure Not to Alienate a Very valuable resource

Oh, and Im 6'4", it helps keep the Posts Right about eye level




------------------
60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver

Just another Hot Rod kid, or thats what they all tell me.
Livin' the Stereotype

 

Cool man, I've just about got the garage "in working order".

I've been off line a lot lately tryin to get this house set up (DSL, washer/dryer, air compressor, blah, blah..)

I should be ready for visitors in a week or so, I'll let you know.

If you need something, let me know.

------------------
ASE Mechanic/Machinist/Smog Tech

1999 NBM Trans Am
1986 Chevy 3/4 ton pick up
1981 corvette
1995 Kawi ZX6R

R.I.P. #3
My favorite quote about D.E. "He can see air"

 

Great, Love to See the Setup of a pro

blah, off to Work, Gay ACE hardware!


And I guess this turned Sorta non Tech, So Ill continute it In Email



------------------
60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver

Just another Hot Rod kid, or thats what they all tell me.
Livin' the Stereotype