88 irocz 350 5-spd

ok heres my problem, i just replaced the 195 thermo in my l98 that someone put in before me with a 160 thermo, hopeing it would solve my cooling problems but it didn't. im pretty sure my fan isn't working right cause the only time it will come on is right for a few seconds when i start the car and then goes off, and also when the car is pretty much overheating a 260. if i drive around fast in a higher gear it will usually cool down fine but i need alot of road to do that. i just have a big single fan and was wondering if i might need a relay, and where could i get one for a very low turn on temp. also i was thinking about just going with an all new aluminum radiator and a dual fan setup, does anyone know where i could get one for a l98? i remember seeing one in gm hightech but can't remeber which one
thanks

89Vert

see if you can power up the fan, the ecm grounds the fan relay to turn the fan on,

unplug the coolant temp sensor, the fan should turn on all the time

helspawn

I just recectly got a camaro myself not long ago.....so I will try my best to give advice. I have heard of some problems associated with switching to too low temp thermostats....some say to use a Hypertech chip and therm, the Hypertech chip in the ECU tells the fan to turn on earlier with the lower therm, I guess that works. Of course a better radiator and fan will work and keep everything cooler. As for getting parts, I dont know where you live but I have had pretty good luck with Summit Racing, Year One and Fbody motorsports and Hawks 3rd Generation Parts.

Hope this helps a little.

Black305RS

until you get the relay if you put the environmental selector th A/C it should kick the fan on all the time.

89Vert

I ran a 160 with stock fan turn ons forever no problems, also ran it with manual fan switch no problem,
now run with custom tuned chips by me,
no problems

jayman350

another option would be to run a manual switch so you decide when you want the fans on and off. I swapped from a clutch fan and had a relay for a single electric fan from Painless that worked great for about 3 months and then it crapped out on me. I wired up a switch and used it like that without problem until I got rid of the car.

I also didn't have an ECM to control the fan so a chip/new sensor wasn't an option for me.

88 irocz 350 5-spd

i think ill just try to wire it up with a switch, would it be ok if i just hooked a positive from the switch right up to the fan wire? cause who ever had the car before me has a switch for some relay under the dash going under the hood to a relay that has a cut wire comming out of it. i also looked to see if i could unhook my coolant sensor to find that it wasn't even plugged in!! and a looked around and didn't find a loose wire anywhere so i dont know whats wrong. ill maybe try to post some pics of the whole setup cause someone did a homemade wire job for the fan and ther are wires going everywhere by the battery.

89Vert

you can't due a postive wire from switch to fan, the wire will burn up

the fan relay is ground controled, for my manual switch, I spliced into the computer controlled ground on the relay and run it to a ground switch, make sure you have 2 powers and a ground all the time at the fan relay

Black305RS

i bought a relay from auto zone and wired from the positive battery wire to the relay. wired the power wire from the fan to the relay ,grounded the fan ground wire to the frame(by the headlights). ran a control wire from the relay to the interior of the car and than to the switch. made a wire with a male connector and pluged it into the fuse box(a port with power though) and ran that to the switch. and finally ran a ground wire from some bolt under the dash to the switch and mounteds the switch where the fog lights would normally be (this was a rs so no fog lights). for the main power feeds from the battery i used a 10 gauge wire or so. for the rest i believe i used 12 gauge. it worked until the cars demise in august of 05. for the relay you gotta make sure you hook it all up right. there are letters and numbers printed on the relay that identify what the function of each prong is. i dont remember what each is but im sure there will be instructions with the relay(should you choose to do it that way) if not im sure someone here or on www.thirdgen.org or www.iroczone.com could help you.

88 irocz 350 5-spd

thats wierd, that is exactly how it sounds to be hooked up in my car. cuase there is a wire comming off the positve battery and a few grounds here and there but no switch is hooked up

89Vert

that way seems alot more complicated then running a single switch ground wire, plus I still have the computer control of the fan, so regular driving,
my fan come on at like 175*F and off at 170*F
then when I'm at the track I can run the fan full time to cool the motor down

88 irocz 350 5-spd

ok here are my pics of fan setup, if you have any idea of how this is all working and have a solution for me please let me know. if you need better pics of what is going on let me know

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...2/DSC01702.jpg
switch inside car
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...2/DSC01708.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...2/DSC01704.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...2/DSC01705.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...2/DSC01706.jpg
relay from swtich
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...2/DSC01707.jpg

Black305RS

it wasnt so bad took maybe 10 minutes to set up. the hardest part was running the control wire through the firwall. i wired it up to a toggle swithc and i could turn it on whenever i wanted i thought it was a good way to do it because before that the only way i had to turn it on was to set the environmental controls to ac. the computer in my car had no control over the fan.

from looking at those photos i can tell you one thing. you have the wrong type of battery and i would get new cables and convert it back to side post.
also it seems you are mosly there for the switch to work. i would just re run the wires to the relay.

88 irocz 350 5-spd

but wich wire would i hook the switch wire up too?

Black305RS

the switch is hooked up it seems from the photo.
the wire that is cut either went from the positive terminal on the battery or the power wire from the fan. so you can try hooking it up to both and see which one makes it work.
also i forgot to mention that you need to ground the relay to the firewall otherwise it wont operate. i loosend a bolt on the firewall near where the relay currently is.
i hope this helps.
il be on for a while so ill try to answer your questions.