That's it! I am done with this damn cooling fan.....

[midnight]

I have grown weary of it lack of cooling at idle and not keeping my ac cold! Done with replacing it for now the third time. Done with it robbing me of hp and gas milage.

I have come up with a new idea(to me at least). Use the current fan shroud. Remove the biggest mistake gm had made since the metro. And install a electric fan into the stock shroud that is the same size as the stock one. By my figures this will allow the same amount of flow as the stock unit and fix all the down sides.

The opening is 20" in dia. Flex a light had a 20" fan that I can mod to fit into the opening. Thus keeping a stock look and increasing the flow when on.

I will post pics of the install.

[midnight]

Never mind. My therory is flawed.

[Philberto]

How so? What happened? Why is your fan the problem? Did you check the rad? Thermostat? Rad cap? Coolant level?

[midnight]

I have flushed the system and replaced tstat

Removed rad and power washed the surface

Power washed the condenser.

Water pump changed last oct

Forced the ev to engage to test if it is working.

New cap

And a trans cooler

[madmanvillain]

i missed something...why did you decide against the electric fan?

[HARDTRAILZ]

I thought they proved on Trailvoy that there was not a fan that could flow enough air or for some reason an e-fan would not work, but that may have been for the ss...

[bartonmd]

I thought they proved on Trailvoy that there was not a fan that could flow enough air or for some reason an e-fan would not work, but that may have been for the ss...

That was on an I6... Bill's, as a matter of fact...

Seems to work fine in most places, but towing rated load, or high throttle application, low speed (up long hills at near WOT in 4LO), in the desert, the e-fan won't keep up...

Mike

[glfredrick]

That seems sort of weird... They are able to cool (sufficient for factory use) other cars with larger V-8 engines but not the little I-6 TB? Hmmm... Perhaps more rows in the radiator and less air flow?

[bartonmd]

That seems sort of weird... They are able to cool (sufficient for factory use) other cars with larger V-8 engines but not the little I-6 TB? Hmmm... Perhaps more rows in the radiator and less air flow?

Correct... Our radiator is on the small side for the amount of heat (power) that the engine is capable of putting into it... My sister's got an '06 Vortec Max 345 horse 6.0 litre in it, with a 10k# tow rating, and it's got electric fans... Of course, her radiator is about twice the size of ours...

Mike

[glfredrick]

Is the SS radiator larger or thicker? If so, why not a simple swap?

[midnight]

Nope the same size.

[glfredrick]

Hmmm... So the radiator will cool a big block V-8 but not the I-6 with half the cubic inches. I'm still thinking that something just does not compute unless the I-6 is one hot-running mother of an engine.

[bartonmd]

Hmmm... So the radiator will cool a big block V-8 but not the I-6 with half the cubic inches. I'm still thinking that something just does not compute unless the I-6 is one hot-running mother of an engine.

The SS also has a mechanical fan, for a reason...(it's a small block 6L, though)...

Mike

[midnight]

There is alot more than just displacement that goes into figuring out cooling.

How lean does a motor run
How effective is it at cooling it's cylinders.
How high does it rev
How much cooling is done by the oil.


But mostly it's cost at the end of the day. One radiator for all models.

The 6l ss motor can pull the tb alot easier and with less work that the i6. And the 5.3 is the middle child. So make one that over cools the i6 and the 6l and then just right for the 5.3.

[bartonmd]

There is alot more than just displacement that goes into figuring out cooling.

How lean does a motor run
How effective is it at cooling it's cylinders.
How high does it rev
How much cooling is done by the oil.


But mostly it's cost at the end of the day. One radiator for all models.

The 6l ss motor can pull the tb alot easier and with less work that the i6. And the 5.3 is the middle child. So make one that over cools the i6 and the 6l and then just right for the 5.3.

Power also plays into it... The amount of fuel burnt, and the amount of heat made is directly related to the amount of power (work, HP) output... Yeah, the I6 is smaller in displacement than most of the truck engines of the past, but puts out close to 300HP... Even the Vortec 350 only put out, what, 260?

Though, I think the 6L is probably harder on a cooling system than the 5.3L... Load also plays into cooling... You'll notice that the SS isn't rated any higher on towing than the 5.3L, even though it has more power, a (theoretically) stronger transmission, and a stronger rear end... Day to day cooling, lots of people run e-fans on the SS, 5.3L, and I6 TBs... The problem shows up when doing high throttle for extended periods, and expecting the fan to do the work... Guys say "I've got a 600HP SS on an efan on the stock radiator, and it's fine"... Yeah, but 5 seconds after you use that 600HP, you're going 60+ mph, and the fan isn't doing the cooling any more, anyway...

These are guys (the designers, bean counters, execs at GM) who would give their left nut for 1mph fuel mileage increase on a vehicle that counts toward their CAFE numbers... They sold a blue million of the GMT360/370 platform, and the ~1mpg city and highway that the efans would have bought them would have done them WORLDS of good in their CAFE numbers... The fact that they went with mechanical fans on these vehicles, in the first place, says that any of these vehicles WILL NOT cool themselves in the desert, in the mountains, towing rated load, with efans.

Mike

[midnight]

valid.