I know that a cold engine needs a period of time to warm up after starting. I was wondering if I leave my fan on all the time will it take longer to warm up the engine? Or, is most of this controlled by the mechanisms in the thermostat? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

No, it shouldn't hurt your warmup time. When the engine is cold, your thermostat is closed, allowing very little or no coolant to flow through the engine, thus it doesn't matter how cool the coolant is. I don't know if there are any other issues related to having the fans run all the time or not, but it shouldn't affect your warmup time any.

 

I gotta disagree. My IROC used to have both fans always running and in the winter it would never warm completely up. I guess in the summer it might not be as big of a deal, though.

The main thing is to wait about 10-20 seconds to let the oil circulate fully and don't get on it until the temp guage has come up.



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Dan
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87 IROC-Z, 5.7,auto, 3.27, leather, !cat, Holley fpr, K&N'S, SLP 1-3/4" Jet-Hot coated headers, Accel .219 cam, Comp 1.5 roller tip rockers, $uperPITAram, Edelbrock lower intake, Holley 52mm tb, Dynomax\Flowmaster catback. Coming Soon- DFI or prom burner, Dart Iron Eagle 200cc heads, 6" rod 383 or a 406

1987 Camaro Z28 - 5.2tpi, auto, 3.73s, tb airfoil, ported plenum, !cat, !tbcoolant, !smog, !4th gear :/

1989 Pontiac 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am - 161,000 miles, !cat, 9" K&N - SOLD

 

Both of my fans run all the time and I have never noticed any adverse effects. They have been like that for 2-3 years now.

I have never noticed it taking longer for it to warm up, actually my car tends to warm up to normal temp within a few minutes. I also have never experienced any problems in the winter with the heat or anything like that. I would say you should be all right.

One good thing is that my temp never goes above 160* anymore!

Matt

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irocet@hotmail.com

drive.to/Stang_Kilr

88 IROC-Z -- 350 L-98, 700R4, Flowmaster, K&N, MAF Sceens Removed, Airfoil, March Pullies, Comp Cams Magnum 1.6 Roller Rockers, Bosch Platinum Plugs, Accel 8.8 mm Wires, Hypertech Cap & Coil, Hypertech Chip, Hotchkis Strut Tower Brace, One Loud Stereo!

 

Like jRaskell said, the coolant will not circulate in the rad until the thermostat opens. If your coolant can't seem to reach operating temps - 180 to 200° - then you you should switch to a warmer stat. An engine needs to make, and maintain heat, to make power. Using a stat that is too cool(i.e., 160 ° F) will allow too much of that heat to be drawn into the coolant and out through the rad. Again for best power and economy, the coolant should be in the range of 180 to 200° F.

[This message has been edited by 88IROCs (edited June 07, 2001).]

 

Two things will happen. Yes your warmup time will be longer and your fan(s) will burn out prematurely.

By design your fan comes on at 234 degrees or with A/C operation. This means much of the time it is not running. Any fan has x number of hours of life and you will consume your x number of hours at a much higher rate.

And for the same reason your car is designed to start and warm up with no fans and closed thermostat. With the fan running pulling cooler air from the radiator that is not being circulated through a heating block there is no way for it to warm up in the same amount of time.

Is this serious? Not really. Just be cautious about romping a cold engine and have a few bucks stashed for when you kill the fan.

 

I remember a time when all Camaros had fans attached to the water pump. Running the electric ones all the time will put a strain on a marginal charging system --but it will work --.

 

Whuddaya mean power failure. Our new CS alternators crank out over 100amps of power compared to the 63 amps of yesteryear... Of course they're smaller (defying the laws of physics) and as a result burn the rear bearings out and just downright make the cars unpredictable!

OK so I'm a little sore that both my f-bodys cooked both alternators within 3 weeks! The were not cheapie 'lifetime' autozones, nope stockers.

I upgraded both with Duralast Gold's from autozone. They are not rebuilt but all new with a lifetime warranty... Now I'm hurtin' for cash a little...

 

Lets think about this from a logical point of view. You are pulling cool air over the engine and wondering if it will affect your warm up period any. Hummm? YES! Not enough to be a problem, but it will affect it. Think about it. When is your engine cooler? Sitting in traffic, or cruising down the hiway? Cruising of course. What changed? Mostly, the amount of air over the engine.

In conclusion. 1)Your warm up period will be longer. Unless you have a stopwatch, you probably wont notice. 2) Your motors will run out sooner. Not that big a deal either.

Clayton