Hello All! Brand new to the boards here, so first I would like to say, glad to be a part of the community! I finnaly was able to scrape up the funds and purchase a 1987 IROC this week! My problem is with the cooling system. My engine seems to be running hotter than it should? When stuck in traffic, it will tend to get up into the 230-240 range. It has never actually made it into the red. Upon investigating, I found that the fan on the drivers side, will kick on at about 230 degrees, (even with the ac off), but the passenger side fan will not kick on? The fan motor is fine, so I assumed it was possibly the relay. I changed that, with no luck. I did however discover that I can activate the relay manually, and the passenger side fan will kick in. When I activate the relay manually, only the passenger side kicks on. Are the two fans on seperate relays? My next thought is the fan switch? If that were the problem, would my dash guage still be reading temp though? I would assume that if the switch were bad, the dash guage would not give me a reading, or is that a completely seperate issue? Any help you all can give me would be greatly appreciated! I am by no means a master mechanic, but am learning alot as I go along!
Thanks!

Jeremy

 

The second fan might not kick on until the A/C is turned on but I'm not 100% sure. Third gens were designed to run hot so what youre experiencing is relatively normal. I believe the primary fan wasnt designed to engage until 210-220 IIRC..... What you have to remember too is that the factory gauges are notoriously inaccurate so you can only put so much stock in what they say. Only way to 100% accurately check engine temp is put a new sending unit in there and use an aftermarket gauge.

If it's not overheating, or running hot to the point of occasional boiling over or badly degraded engine performance, I wouldnt worry too much

 

THe fan on the driver side is the one that kicks on for the A/C. Even with the A/c on, the passenger side fan never kicks on? For some reason it seems that the signal is not getting to the relay for that side. Are there seperate relays for each side? If the fan switch were bad, would that not prevent both fans from turning on (provided that the A/C were not in use)? How about if I hard wired the passenger side fan to the driver side? Would it create any kind of amperage problem or what not?