engine not cooling enough

[jafero]

I have two electric fans of this design on my car. These fans are pulling air on the engine room side of the radiator. With these, engine reaches overheating temperature zone in 20 minutes after starting the engine.
http://i13.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/99/ac/4016_2.JPG

So I installed stock clutch fan and tried it. The result was still same.

If I relocate the electric fans to bumper side of the engine room and have them push air while clutch fan is pulling air, will it be better or same as right now?

[jt1583]

if your overheating in 20 minutes on clutch fan and again on efans then i dont think air flow is the issue. did you check your thermostat? bleed coolant system? hows your radiator?

[jafero]

My radiator is old stock one. About 30% fins are folded.

[250sxdet]

maybe your water pump is dying or dead.

[jafero]

How do I check if waterpump is dead or fine?

[wootwoot]

You need a new one. Sell it.

[MAGILLA]

How do I check if waterpump is dead or fine?

does your car leak coolant from around the pump area?

[chlatboy]

maybe your fans arent wires rite. Such as they are pushing instead of pulling, causing the hot air to stay on the radiator. Try buying an upgraded radiator cap to drop the pressure inside your radiator.

[rj240sx]

did u put your fan shroud back on when u tried the clutch fan?? if not, thats the problem with your clutch fan. if u did have ur shroud on, THEN airflow is not ur problem. if it works, just leave the clutch fan. u dont need e-fans. their too unreliable for me. mines 356hp and all i have is the clutch fan and my shit runs cold.

[Realnez]

These fans are pulling air on the engine room side of the radiator.

aren't the fans supposed to pull air from the other way? because if there pulling from the engine bay there pulling hot air? just a thought

[youngmanvr4]

In my 90 with a DOHC swap before I sold it I never ran a shroud and never ever came close to heating up. Though I didn't have ac. Even idling for a while I never over heated. So I would rule out airflow.
One thing I did have was 80% coolant 20% water. That will help cooling and doesn't hurt anything.

As others have said,
-water pump
-thermostat
-bleed coolant system

Maybe your gauge in your cluster isn't reading correct?

Get your voltometer out and let it warm up. Than test the resistance between the two pins at the coolant temp sensor.
68 -- 2.1-2.9
122 -- 0.68-1.00
194 -- 0.236-0.260

I believe normal operating temp is about 160°ish but I dont know for sure. So around 0.45 resistance.
If this seem to be on target and your gauge still show over heating then its probably not your temp sensor. I would then look into the actual gauge in the cluster being off. Though it could be the thermostat is the problem.

Are you throwing any CEL? 13 or 98? These are all thoughts...I dont know for sure.

[jafero]

wootwoot// you meant the radiator?
Magilla// no leaks.
chlatboy// fan is wired correctly and airflow is going toward engine from bumper. It is tad weak even compared to clutch fan.
rj240sx// I will try with fan shroud.
realnez// sorry to confuse you. the fans are located on the engine room side of the radiator and are pulling air instead of pushing. So cold air is coming in.
youngmanvr5// I have HKS temp sensor displaying in celcius so I am not relying on the stock dummy guage. The highest I have gone upto was 90 degrees celcius and the temp needle was still creeping up when I stopped the engine.

[Healtoeae86]

did you properly bleed your cooling system? Go get your cooling system flushed, its only like $30.

Also check the tension on the belt that drives the waterpump, might be a tad loose. Thats all i can think of at the moment.

[nissandr1ft]

Normal operating temp needs to be 180-200 degrees. Straight water cools better than a mix, but it will freeze in the winter if you dont run antifreeze. You need to make sure the cooling system is bled correctly...your car will overheat with a quickness otherwise.

[youngmanvr4]

Good.

No cel?

My guess is thermostat or water pump. I doubt the shroud will change much but it might help. But still there is a problem else where in my opinion.

[rj240sx]

just change thermostat, water pump,rad cap, flush,and bleed properly. it's quick cheap and easy and ur gonna need new ones eventually anyway, plus u don't know how long the old ones have been on there. that would also eliminate 80% of your troubleshooting. with that done try it with the clutch fan and shroud first, so you know for sure airflow isn't the issue. a number of things could be wrong with a "do it yourself" e-fan setup. it just adds more complication. also do not use straight water even in the summer months. you need to at least add some coolant and/or water wetter to prevent corrosion which will lead to cooling problems down the road. hope this helps.

[jafero]

Thanks a lot for your advices, guys.
I will change thermostat, bleed the system and will let you know how it goes.

[youngmanvr4]

nissandr1ft or anyone else, I would like the understand more how running water is better for cooling. I'm sure there is a reason but I'm missing it.

Pure water freeze point at 32F and boil point at 212F. Duh.
50/50 C2H6O2/water freeze point at -35F and boil point at 223.
70/30 C2H6O2/water freeze point at -67F and boil point at 235.

Wouldn't a higher boiling point provide better cooling or does water transfer heat better than C2H6O2?

[spinitsidewayz]

does water transfer heat better than C2H6O2?

It sure does.