ok i have an 86 gxl and i took the fan shroud off when i replaced my water pump and i didnt put it back on because it makes everything so hard to get at. i had my hood open the other day and my dad freaked out when he saw the shroud wasnt in and he said the car will over heat if the fan shroud isnt there because it directs air into the fan. is this true? or does it not matter whether i have it in or not?

 

Yes it very much matters if the shroud is there or not, without it your mechanical fan is just kinda spinning in your engine bay pulling very little air through the radiator when you stopped. This is a good way to cook your engine if you like your rotary steamed with a side of rice.

 

ok i was wondering, that for answering ill need to put it back on

 

surprised it hasn't overheated on you at idle yet

 

yup it hould be on there so you don't overheat put it back on before you run into some big problems

 

Of course it's true, why else did you think it was there?

The shroud forces air to be sucked through the radiator. Without it the fan will simply blow air around the engine bay and suck very little through the radiator. Unless you force it to go elsewhere, air will always follow the path of least resistance, and that's not the radiator.

 

Car manufacturers aren't known for spending $$ to engineer and install unneeded parts/accessories. The shroud is no exception.

If a car manufacturer could save a buck a car by omitting a part, they will. Auto makers are savings millions each year by not installing cigarette lighters in their cars as stock equipment.

 

yeah i found that out the hard way. i took it off, let it idle then saw it getting too warm so i shut it right off...luckily nothing was hurt.

 

Since my fan shroud took a crap yesterday, the fan shroud has been off and it still hasnt overheated on me... in fact, it has been running just as cool, just above the C mark...

 

n00bs! Sheez.

Did you think your dad fell off a stupid truck or something?

 

lol

 

kids love to learn lessons the hard way - I know I did at that age (traded Shelby GT350 for a Harley 25 years ago)

 

well ive driven it pretty hard since its been off and the temp doesnt climb at all. im gonna hit up a junkyard and see if i can find an escort efan to put in there so i aint gotta go through the trouble of gettin the fan on with the shroud on. another question, if i find a fan how do i hook it up?

 

hook it up to a switch on the inside of the car or have it hooked up to a source of power that will turn on with the car.

 

the ONLY time you want to manually control a fan like that is if its an auxillary fan. Its nice to think that you'd remember to turn the fan on every time you started driving the car, but the fact of the matter is taht you would forget. if you're only goign to have fan, make sure it turns on with the car. The only other option here is if you install a temp switch, but again, that doesn't require you having manual control over it.

 

No No NO!

If you are going to use an e-fan, do it properly:

http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/efaninstall.htm

 

only reason i have mine hooked up like that is in the mornings when its cold i have the fan off so the car warms up faster. i have a thick alum rad and it already takes awhile. but i would never drive the thing with the fan off....it strictly for my warm ups. and i might turn the thing off while drving on the freeway at night....no need to have it going there. but then again if i forget to turn it on i got a temp sensor as my little hey stupid reminder. plus i got a pusher fan in front of the rad that comes on with the car.....really the car will run fine with that one fan but on these hot days i dont trust it that much.

 

The thermostat controls the temperature of the car, not the fan. So even if the fan was running during warmup, it should not effect the time it takes to come to operating temperature. Also, fans should be on a thermoswitch, so that they only come on when needed. Otherwise, you completely defeat the so-called purpose of the fan by drawing 20-30A of current from the electrical system at all times.

Do it properly, or don't do it.

 

yea...at the time i didnt have a thermostat...i got one a few months ago and i dont really bother with the switch anymore but sometime ill just flip it on cuz i dont wanna only relay on the temp sensor

 

But you rather heat up your entire cooling system and reli on your head and a 20C switch from radio shack. Do you even have it on a relay?

brandon87rx - You do like the hard road. A efan is going to be much harder and costly to setup then the pully fan. WTF is so hard about puting a shroud on with 3 10mm bolts, sliding your fan into the shroud placing it over the studs finger tite each one then sticking a long bladed screw driver between 2 of the bolts and torqu on one with a 10mm wrench, turn fan one notch and repeat 4 times? Takes 10 min. Now how long and much $ do you think its going to cost to put a e-fan in?

 

yep. but the way its setup is that it will turn on when needed but i can also turn it on just incase i want it on sooner. like right after i exit the freeway i might switch it on but if i dont the thermo will switch it on if need be. but i learned my leason bout not havin a thermo....no thermo= possible engine damage and possible overheating. since the thermo was put in i never had a prob with overheating even in this 100+ weather boosting like crazy. so for all u people who take em out...put em in....i know what can happen now....lucky for me i never blew a motor cuz of it.

oh but the thermo is installed on the fan itsself....i didnt go cheap on it. i got a GOOD fan. i know how important it is.