Electric fans not coming on

I took the '94 Caprice out for its first test run since buying it last week. Nothing too bad, except the temperature gague. It's a bit left of center on the highway and straight up on local streets, which is about what I would expect. I let it idle while filling up with gas in case it wasn't going to restart, and I noticed when I got in that it was about 3/4 of the way up the operating range. Not too much of a concern, and it went right back to left of center at highway speeds.

Got home and let it idle in the driveway for a bit, and it started creeping up. I shut it off when it got the upper end of operating range and didn't let it overheat. The whole time, I noticed that the dual electric fans didn't kick in, meaning outside air was doing all my cooling. One of the top bolts that holds the fan assembly on is missing, but the electrical connections and fuses look OK. The car used to have a mechanical fan; the electrics were put in two owners ago. Anything else I should check before hauling it into the shop?

It could be running normally, the primary fan won't come on till almost the red mark. The secondary fan, the temperature has to be hotter than that. Easiest way to see if the fans are operating normally is to unplug the temperature sensor on the water pump; then both fans should come on.

Tom C.

OK, it's idling in the driveway again. Only 1/4 of the way up now; we'll see what happens in a few minutes...

Update - the fans *do* come on when the A/C is switched on.
Update 2 - Guess I was being paranoid; the primary fan came on when it was about 90% of the way up operating range.

I also noticed a few drops of water coming out of the exhaust at cold start. Normal condensation, or am I screwed?

Considering how cool it got here last night,I would say its just condensation.Stop trying to find
things wrong with it and enjoy your wagon!

Jim

mp775 wrote:

I also noticed a few drops of water coming out of the exhaust at cold start. Normal condensation, or am I screwed?

Drive it harder,. dry hot exhaust doesn't drip condensation,.

It only dripped when it was cold. I just bought it a week ago and haven't really had it out yet. The previous owner was a car flipper who bought it in March and only put a couple thousand miles on since. I'm probably going to attempt my 60-mile commute in it tomorrow.

Sorry about the paranoia; it's my first GM and I don't know what to expect. Chrysler and Ford temperature gauges get to the middle and stay there; anything higher means overheated.

After my 60 mile commute this morning, temperature gauge was still under the halfway mark, but I can hear the coolant in the recovery tank boiling.

There may be a bubble in your coolant. Did you bleed it? LT1 cars are picky about air in the coolant system. I have an LO5 car, and it gurgles when I turn it off, but it is not a problem. Sometimes things continue to function when the car is off, because it is designed that way.

The recovery tank seems a little oily, although the oil itself looks full and clean. Going to check it out further at lunch time, but I'm not too optimistic at this point.

Update - local shop thinks the thermostat is sticking open and thinks driving home 60 miles potentially in heavy traffic won't be a problem. I'm still skeptical.

The boiling didn't happen again. Replaced the thermostat and flushed the coolant anyway, which thankfully doesn't seem to have created any new problems .

Hopefully your confidence in the car will go up as you accumalate more miles and become more
comfortable with your car!
Jim

I've put 700 on in the last week; so far so good .