I guess I'll start with the most serious concerns and work down to the less serious ones. (warning: noob here, terminology and descriptions may be slightly off but I'm trying)

A few months back my friend who gave me the car (1984 non-GSL-SE 12A) which he got from another friend who owed him a favor, came and told me he installed an electric fan into it. It came from Thunderbird. However he wired it up to a little plastic 10A switch which subsequently burned up so I had to drive to the auto zone and back a few miles to install another dinky switch which also subsequently burned up. The 2nd time it burned up we were down in Southern California in June this summer where it was f-ing hot. Again we had to drive around and find an auto zone and install yet another switch. That one too eventually burned up but took awhile longer, while installing the new switch my girlfriends step-dad and I were looking over everything and we concluded its more a probelm with the gauge of the wire and not so much the amp rating of the switch, however I have another friend coming to help me properly install the electric fan this weekend so thank god for that.

However the real concern I have is that if my engine has been overheated. After searching and reading various posts on the subject I am worried it may have been. What can I do to check short of tearing down the engine and checking the coolant seals?



As far as extra credit questions go I have these other ones...

Electric fan thermostat switch / control - Recommendations on a thermostat switch / control for the electric fan I currently have set up with the toggle would be greatly appreciated. I have looked through my Haynes manual as well as searched the forums for the operating temperatures of the engine to no avail. Names and part numbers along with temp settings would be greatly appreciated.

Speedometer needle - My speedometer doesn't like to stay steady, it slightly wiggles back and forth, more so at higher speeds, and not hold a steady line on what speed I may be going.

Cruise control - Whenever I use cruise control it seems to set just fine but now and again, what seems to be in a pattern and not so much wildly random, I will lose 5mph then re-gain it slowly. Any ideas on what could cause this?


So yes, I am a big idiot and thanks again if you made it this far and even more so if you leave a fruitful reply. If you live in the Fremont area of the Bay Area I'll take you out for a beer.

 

first thing.. never buy anything from auto zone.. everything anyone i have ever talked to has bought from them has been shoddy.. in fact the shop i work for stopped getting things from them because of all the customer complaints . the reason your switch is not working properly is probably how it is set up.. you need to rethink your ground.. you shouldnt be burning fuses and switches.. you should probably run an inline fuse with the switch to be on the safe side..

next the speedo may be the spring in the back of the needle is worn out.. i am not sure how ours are set up but that is how my dad's van was.. either that or the sender is loose.

and finally no sports car should have cruse control.. in my opinion.. staying at one speed is boring..

 

If you're not running a relay on the fans, and the switch in the car controls THAT, the actual battery to fans current, you need a switch capable of at least 50 amps to be on the safe side....

 

you can tell if you torched the seals or warped the housings by whether or not your engine loses compression or starts smoking like snoop dogg.

i've heard to turn the car off if it starts creeping up past halfway. the gauge basically has 3 positions: cold, good, and toast.

 

Nothing has started smoking like s-n-double-O-p d-o-double-g yet, how could I notice if the engine was losing compression?

 

Pick up a fan thermo switch at an auto parts store that sells electric fans. When you get it installed, turn the switch off and start the car car, cold, Watch as the engine warms up and as soon as the thermotat opens, turn the thermo switch so it just barely comes on.

Now go out and drive and watch your temp gauge, you should be close to where it needs to be.

Btw, wire in a relay, at least 5 amps greater than the fan, and take the power directly from the battery.

 

Hey All, I have a various question. I have managed to download the 1980 mazda manual and I was wondering if there are going to be any major differances between the 1979 car I own. Or at least will it be a good referance as I have an 81-82 engine with the 79-80 points system. Thanks

 

you will lose power and your car will become harder to start.

 

Harder to start as in the engine can be warm already in mid-day and still seem like its starting in the dead cold of morning?

 

it will take more cranks and will probably flood easier.

 

Check out my posts in this thread for details on how to wire it up, and my recommendation on the fan control unit (decent unit for 18 bucks)...


https://www.rx7club.com//showthread.php?t=446340

 

Where did you get the fan control unit? You wouldn't happen to know the brand or name would you?

 

LOL, read my posts in that link. I even provided a link to the Autozone website to show what control unit to ask for (10th post from the top) ...

 

Oh yeah heh there it is. Mrm link doesn't work though. >< I'll try searching by the term "adjustable" it looks like the value the link was trying to pass to the auto zone search engine.

I've looked around on the auto-zone website but most of the ones I saw were at least ~$40 or more. Maybe I'll get more results with this search term ...

 

Try this one, sorry 'bout that...

http://autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker...EEGI%7C%7Etrue

 

Were you able to safely use it without a relay or did you purchase one seperately? Did you follow this link on installing your efan? http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/efaninstall.htm

 

No relay is needed with that controller. Works great. Aaron put up a pretty nice article, but since this controller does not require a relay, his instruction was not needed by me in this case.

 

Awesome, and its stocked at my local autozone, even better!

Did you install a fuse along with yours, and where did you run the power from?

Initially we tried getting power from the ignition coil but then the fan seemed to run not even at 1/4th of what it pushes when running from the battery.

 

I'll have to take a look to be sure where I wired it in at, I believe it was the coil. Then I put a 30 amp inline fuse on that and ran that line to the controller. I'll look at it when I get out of work this morning and let you know for sure...

 

Okay, I walked out to check because you got me curious. I'm drawing power from the trailing coil.

A better way to do this would be to get your power straight from the battery, but run it through a relay that is triggered off of the coil. That will give you the full voltage from the battery, but kill the power to the fans when the ignition is off. Hmm, I think I'll have to make a stop on the way home and pick one up....

 

Sweet let us know how that goes!

 

Cool so finally got the e-fan rigged up good n proper now with a fuse, relay, and thermostat. Seems to be working good so far, I'll know better for sure on the drive to and from work.