ohiotemplar

okay, I posted a thread that my fan wasn't comeing on until my ac was on. I also mentioned that the fan did indeed come on of it's own accord AFTER the car was on the first little sliver of a red line on the heat guage.

I was told I should get a jet fan switch. I bought it only to learn that the 92's were ecm controlled. (still have it)

I bought and installed a new coolant temp sensor (under the TB) and coolant temp switch (behind the ac compressor, green wire).

I flushed the coolant system twice and even put in some water wetter.

Nothing helped, not even the 180 thermo.

So I've survived until now by keeping the ac on low, but it really owns my gas mileage. So I decided to let it run hot (first little red line on the heat gauge).

NEW PROBLEM: Now the fan NEVER comes on unless the ac is on. The heat gauge can be totally buried (has happened twice) - and then I'm forced to turn on the AC to cool my car down.

Potential solutions: Is there a relay I'm missing? Could my brand new coolant temp sensor be bad already after only 6 months? Could it be the fan? The pigtail coming off the fan being corroded? Could it be the radiator cap?

What if it's the ecm? I'm getting a hypertech thermomaster chip in the hopes that it will fix my problem. it's supposed to turn on the fan at 180 while the stock temp, I'm told is 230 weirdly.

Please Help!

Rayzor32

iTrader: (1)

your problem is the fan, easy fix is find the fan relay (follow the wires off the fan) and look for the power wire (blk/rd) cut that wire and run it to the "ign" slot on your fuse box. Your fan will now come on when the ignition is on, you may have to change the "gauges" fuse to a 20A. you can test the fan by sticking a paper clip in the relay with the power wire and touching it to the + battery terminal.

ohiotemplar

I may do that to help my engine last longer. I like it running cool as possible. On the other hand, I don't mind replacing the fan either... the only thing I'm thinking is, replace the pigtail that plugs into the fan too? OR not? I looked at it today. I expected corrosion, but no, just rust. And plenty of it.

Aaron R.

I'm not sure if your '92 is the same sensor setup as my '87, but I had this problem too. Two brand new coolant fan sensors and a lot of time and frustration later I discovered that the brand new sensors Autozone and Kragen had sold me where both bad/defective/CRAP, even though they BOTH were different brand sensors. I bought a new sensor from O'Reilly's and problem fixed.
On my car this sensor is located in the coolant port in the passenger head, near the firewall with 1 wire going to it.

2_point8_boy

See if you can get a hold of an infrared heat gun and check the actual temperature at the t-stat housing. You my not actually have a cooling problem as your sender or guage might actually be bad. I have seen this recently on more than one GM of this vintage. Just something else to check.

ohiotemplar

the 92 3.1 fan is ecm controlled via the coolant temp sensor underneath the TB. Which I replaced with an acdelco one from rockauto. I'll put in a new fan relay (middle one on the drivers' side firewall if anyone wants to know), new fan motor and pigtail.

I replaced the coolant temp switch, so the heat guage should be correct.

I'll let you guys know if that helps, although after looking at it, I'm pretty sure all my problems come from that fan pigtail with rusty contacts. Thanks to rayzor btw - I never would have pulled to look if he hadn't mentioined the fan.

jrsrnr3

I just went through this mess with my 90 camaro, but the charging system did not work also. Long story short. The fuse was blown, then the vehicle started to charge but still no fan. Out of desperation I started to pull the wiring loom and the brown wire, which on my car runs both the charging and cooling fan. If you follow the brown wire at the relay down in the loom about a foot or so, you'll see a cheap GM crimp and one of the wires were broke and all I did was resoldered and have not had any problems since. If you need pics let me know and I'll post them.
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The brown wire does not run the fan, the brown wire turns the relay on to run the fan, Sorry for the mistake.

2.8RS

iTrader: (5)

I'd check out the connection also. My fan worked fine minus the corrosion on the terminals. Not sure about the 3.1 wiring but I took the wire going fom the fan switch and grounded it to the firewall. Now its always on with the car and runs at around 180*.

ohiotemplar

It would be so great if you could post pics. The would be a very big help to me. I don't know how to solder, can't I just twist the wires together?

ohiotemplar

ok, here's some pics of what I THINK jrsrnr3 is talking about.

1st, this is the general area we are looking at:


2nd: Here's is the bracket you have to get off to see where the wires all join:


3rd: This is a close up of the place where the brown cooling fan wire intersects with other wires and alot of black goo... whatever that is.


4th: This is where the brown fan power wire connects to this mess; inconveniently underneath everything:

Obviously this is not the best connection in the world, but I can't see how I could do it better. Anyone have any advice? Should I just twist them all together? The bracket is held on by a single brass screw, so I could get it off to work on it. So what do you guys think?

Just for my own fun here's some pics of my new clear fronts with silverstar ambers:

Rayzor32

iTrader: (1)

looks good where did you get them clear fronts from?

ohiotemplar

ebay baby.

edbird4

I bought a 91 V6 with a cooling problem. Bigger radiator fixed the problem. It is hard to tell about the fan switch that comes on when the engine is hot. I think it is designed to come on at 238 degrees F. This is about 43 degrees F higher than the 195 degree F thermostat. So the guage will read much higher than when when the thermostat opens. A 180 degree F thermostat will make the engine idle about 200 rpm faster because the computer thinks the engine is not warmed up. Also, my temperature reads high. It reads about 220 degrees F when the 195 thermostat opens. Also, the tach reads high as well as the oil pressure and fuel guage. Anyway, get the biggest radiator you can. Good luck.

ohiotemplar

Which one did you get? A griffen? I've thought of that, but my fan never comes on. I know b/c I left it idling one day for some reason or other and when I came out to drive it the heat gauge was buried and the fan wasn't on. Sometimes I just wish I had a mustang. lol

edbird4

What is a griffen? I do not know much about Camaros, but I am learning. Thank you.

ohiotemplar

A griffen radiator, they are very popular on this forum, though I'm not sure I spelled it right. I worked on my fan all day today, I'm sick of it, but I finally got it working at around 250 degrees. Long story short I followed the wires from the relay, cut back 4 million tons of electric tape, found a crappy connection and redid it. I really am hating the cooling system performance. I would like the fan to be on all the time. Can someone tell me what wire to ground? I know it can be done without running a switch or a wire to the fuse box. I should just be able to ground a wire to the firewall right?

jrsrnr3

Sorry I did not post pics, I got buisy. I'm glad you found the connection. now if you want to run the cooling fan all the time, try using a jumper wire under the fan relay. All you have to do is jump the brown wire to the black and red wire and that should turn the fan on only when the ing is on.

ohiotemplar

Thanks man. works great