Installing a Secondary Electric Pusher Fan

[KNBlazer]

2004 Trailblazer EXT 4.2 I6



well started having problems with cooling during hot days... temperature starts creeping up between the 210 and the 260 (red) many repairs have been performed (clutch (new clutch), radiator, thermostat..) and it has not seemed to help ...dealer says that everything is working fine and that it is normal for the temperature gauge to read the way it does... well I don't believe that...so now I am thinking of installing a pusher electric fan to compensate during hot weather... I have noticed that the clutch does not change speeds...I would think that it should kick in and start to roar when the engine starts heating up at idle...TB is at dealer right now...they said they have not found anything wrong with it ... that the temp did creep up but then dropped immediately...

Any GM techs that know anything about this problem please advise...or perhaps call my dealer and explain to them what you think is going on ...

Oh also if anyone has done this modification let me know if it worked or not and what type of fan you used ....(dimensions and all that) I was thinking of installing a toggle switch or something and flipping it on when the days get hot...

[juventus1983]

keep us posted

[MTPockets]

Have you idled your truck with the hood up? You should notice the clutch fan kick into hi speed after awhile. It's very noticable with the hood up. I've yet to notice my fan with the hood closed / normal driving. You'd have to get pretty creative withe the placement of an E-fan.

G/luck
Joel

[KNBlazer]

well after looking at it there is hardly any room to install anything in front of the radiator so I am going to see how much clearance I have between the radiator and fan clutch ... I need at leat 3.25 inches of clearance... the fan that I am looking at is 2.75 at the deepest part...will keep posting updates...

[jmlock]

What temp thermostat are you running? If you go other than stock, don't put one in that is too cold, like a 160. I did that once in a Mustang of mine. On the freeway it was great, but in town on hot days the car ran hotter than normal. The coolant wasn't in the radiator long enough to cool, so the thermostat stayed open all the time, raising the temp.

[tblazed]

well after looking at it there is hardly any room to install anything in front of the radiator so I am going to see how much clearance I have between the radiator and fan clutch ... I need at leat 3.25 inches of clearance... the fan that I am looking at is 2.75 at the deepest part...will keep posting updates...

Yep ain't enough room in front to put a decent aux fan.

Problem is, if you mount a aux puller fan strapped through the radiator as usual with the add-on fans, it's going to be darn near impossible to get the stock fan, shroud and clutch (which you will have to take out to get to the back of the radiator) to slide back down into place with the second fan in the way and the extremely limited room to work as it is.

You DO have a 4.2?

With all the other things that have been done I wonder about your water pump. Don't know if the impeller can come loose from the shaft on these or not.

[KNBlazer]

well the time has come to install the fan .. I think I am going to wait until I receive my HID kit for my fog lights and lowbeams since I have to remove the grille ... I am going to use straps to strap the fan directly to the radiator and run the fan off a switch in the drivers side, still don't know exactly where to install it but will keep you updated and if I remember I will take pictures.. .

[KNBlazer]

well I installed the fan today and setted it up as a puller... it was a PITA , kinda.. I almost ended up pulling the radiator out but didn't ... I was kinda paranoid about losening up the Tranny lines as I have had not so good experiences with a 3rd gen F-body... well I installed it and believe it or not it took me nearly 4-5 hours to complete.. it is a whole lot easier if you remove the radiator first... what I did was removed the fan blade from the clutch and pushed it towards the block then unmounted the radiator support bracket and was able to have just enough room to slide my arm down to hold on to the end of the zip tie locking end... that was the most time consuming .... the wiring took me about an hour to install ... I used a relay to power up the fan... now I have to wait for a hot day and see what happens... however I did notice that the A/C blew Ice cold air seconds after firing up the TB .. usually I would have to travel a few blocks before it gave me cool air... while lining up the fan shroud at the bottom I noticed that I had left the power connector to the HID passenger fog light in limbo... I had connected the passenger side directly to the OEM harness while the drivers side was hooked up to the relay... fixed that right away and actually cleared up a problem I had with the connector not snapping in ... had no prior problems so didn't think about it... I did my HID conversion a couple weeks back, day was boring so I jumped in and did it... I will post pics of the fan tomorrow ...

[Motives]

Sounds like the problem I have on Hot days while sitting and idling in traffic coming back from Mexico, sometimes a very long wait. A/C is really taxed. Let us know if the fix works for you maybe I could try it. Can't wait to see pics!

[KNBlazer]

Well here are the pictures ... sorry I could not take any while I was doing the install as I was pressed on time... the fan is to the left of the fan clutch if you are looking into the engine bay in order to clear the fan clutch ... between the clutch and where the fan is there is about 1/2 and inch to 3/4 of an inch of clearance... like I said before it would have been much easier to just pull out the radiator and install it but oh well ... the part numer on the fan is ..... a 16" Be Cool Radiator Cooling Fan # 75058
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/3700/rockerswitchpl6.jpg

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/9348/secondaryfan1relaymn8.jpg

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/9797/secondaryfan1yf3.jpg

[KNBlazer]

Sounds like the problem I have on Hot days while sitting and idling in traffic coming back from Mexico, sometimes a very long wait. A/C is really taxed. Let us know if the fix works for you maybe I could try it. Can't wait to see pics!

yeah that is also one of the reasons I installed it now ... last week I was waiting to get back into San Diego and the wait was long as He** ... A/C started getting less cool ... temp though only went up a couple of marks past the center...

[Motives]

Where did you get the fan and what was the cost? Everyday here in the summer is a hot day, some days the devil has to have a/c. 114 yesterday and humid.

[KNBlazer]

well the fan itself I spent about 80.00 with shipping, bought it new off of EBaY from an auto parts ... saved some 30 dollars over going with I think was Jegs.. the relay harness I had a left over harness from some fog lights from my other car, so I used that just swapped the fuse from a 15 to a 30amp... the rocker switch ran me I believe was 8 dollars... the mounting cable ties for a tranny cooler I also got from EBaY for about 5 dollars...

so total I think it was about 90.00 or so ... less than a hundred if you factor in the extra cable and connectors I used then the conduit protector..

[KNBlazer]

well so far the difference I have seen today is my temp gauge for the first time ever :woohoo:on the freeway stayed stationary to the left of the center mark 210 .. it had never done that before... the E-Fan was off though but I imagine that the air being pulled also got the E-Fan blade going therefore also pulling air...

[Wake]

Wow, now there's some real creative thinking there... :thumbsup:

One thing you might consider is making that fan automatic... You should be able to buy a temp switch that you can attach to the radiator hose (usually clamped to it) with an adjustable thermostat so you can set and forget it...

That way you don't forget and leave it on, or even have to deal with it at all...

Again though, great job... :thumbsup:

[jauto98]

:drool:drool:drool

Man... you are the man... I need to do a mod like that. I already had the fan clutch replaced and now it just plains sucks blowing cold air at idle. When I leave work, it blows cool. By the time I travel a block or two (halfway of my commute) it blows cold. I was thinking if I can tap into the fan clutch to engage the fan manually via a switch, that would be nice. I wish there was more room between the fan and the radiator. Looks tight in there :o. You should sell this is as a kit. I'm sure many of us would buy it. Let us know how it works.

[KNBlazer]

Wow, now there's some real creative thinking there... :thumbsup:

One thing you might consider is making that fan automatic... You should be able to buy a temp switch that you can attach to the radiator hose (usually clamped to it) with an adjustable thermostat so you can set and forget it...

That way you don't forget and leave it on, or even have to deal with it at all...

Again though, great job... :thumbsup:

already happened left it on overnight... went to open the TB and the remote did not work I was like what and through the window I saw the rocker switch was in the on position ... had to yank the battery out to charge it for some 5 minutes as I could not find an extension cord for my charger...

the automatic on with a temp switch I did think about it but did not look for available ports on the intake or block so I just wired it to a rocker switch... however I might upgrade to a completely E-Fan setup if PCM4Less can figure out how to make the PCM control the fans...

yeah it was tight in there ... I used cable ties to hold the right side of the fan shroud against the block up top... then I used cable ties to hold the upper radiator hose, so that it would stay out of my way... my forearms were messed up afterwards... knuckles were also from the radiator fins..

[jauto98]

Just seeing how the efan is working. Cold air during idle? Was thinking about how to wire it up and thought about taping into the fan blower speed. When the fan speed is in speed four or five, efan automatically kicks in. Any other thoughts?