[sleepisyummy]

Today was a hot day. While driving I noticed that my temperature gauge was above the halfway mark. It's usually slightly lower than halfway.

I pulled up Torque and my temperature reading was 106-110*C. It dropped back down to 100*C during the drive before shooting back up to 106-110*C.

I got home and parked my car. The last reading was 114*C when I parked.

Should I be concerned?

 

[CrickiKaze]

Yes.... why not be concerned...

Verify your fans are coming on after you checked your coolant levels.

 

[Tritton]

Yes. My money's on thermostats. Summer summer summer time

 

[mirrortints]

Take a nice small pot, dont ask your wife, and boil the water, checking the temp with a thermometer. My wife didnt like it, but verified my thermostat was bad last month on my g20.

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[sleepisyummy]

Thanks for helping me get started. The way my VQ is set up is that both the fans are grounded so they are always on as long as the car is running. It doesn't matter what the temperature is.

After I got home and had dinner I turned the ignition on (engine not running) the car. I believe both fans should turn on this way, however only one fan was spinning (driver side). The other fan was not spinning at all.

Will need to check wiring but won't be able to do that until the weekend.. I still need to drive to work for the rest of the two days of this week.. My wife is driving the Honda everyday now so I need this car to get to work.

Would it be possible the fan burnt out because it was always on?

 

[sleepisyummy]

UPDATE: I jacked up the car and checked fan connectors. They both looked good. Driver side fan comes on but passenger side fan doesn't.

I did another quick test by switching the fan connectors with each other to test if the connectors are bad. Turned the ignition on. Same thing.. driver side fan comes on and passenger side does not come on.

I think I need a new fan? Does radiator need to come on for fan install?

 

[sleepisyummy]

UPDATE: I jacked the car up and did more tests. Both fans do work if I attach each fan's wires to a battery. So the fans are not the problem..

Also just reread my previous post.. my fans are not grounded. Tloofs wiring harness had two wires that were supposed to go to two different temperature switches so that the fans activate during different temperatures. Since I was cheap I grounded those wires so that the fans are on whenever ignition is on.

I think you guys maybe right about thermostat.. Just curious why the thermostat would cause only one fan to work when ignition is on?

Need to call a Nissin dealership tomorrow to see if they have thermostat in stock.. If they do maybe I can get this repair done this weekend.

If not.. I gotta take a taxi to work until the car is fixed.. lol

 

[mirrortints]

So something in the wiring. If you wire the fans using the harness that's working (sorta like parallel) they should come on then.

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[Tritton]

If the fans are wired straight away, and the fan is turning off, the fan is your problem.

As far as thermostats, one could not be opening and not allowing the flow of coolant. To cool the system.

 

[sleepisyummy]

Okay. So if my thermostat is bad my fans should still come on because of the way it is wired right (no temp sensors). That is my understanding.

I will check wiring tonight via multi meter to see if power is going to the fan connectors.

 

[Revhead Kev]

It has to be a wiring problem, either grounding or harness for 12V.
My bet is the 12V harness wiring or the connector has an intermittent fault since you said putting 12V directly onto the fans they run.

 

[sleepisyummy]

Both fans working! I feel stupid but here's the story.

I checked my radiator fan fuses inside the engine bay fuse box. Both looked good. Then I tested for electrical connection via multimeter in the pigtail connector of the none working fan.. it was hard getting the multimeter needle in the connector while holding the multimeter while upside down under the car while trying to touch a ground connection with the other needle.. so I was reading +/- 0 Volts... Not sure if I did the test correctly but I assume I was getting no power there..

Working under pressure since it was late (11pm), needed the car on Monday, and looking at the tools and garbage I need to clean up after I am done, I decided to just slap on $30 universal radiator fans from Amazon, hoping and praying it would just magically draw power. I drained coolant, took off radiator, detached old fans, and installed new ones. I ensured both fans are pushing air into the engine since that was how the old ones were setup.. I turned on ignition and one fan was still not working.. I decided to just sit down for a few minutes and decided to look back at the notes and my old posts from when I put together the car in 2017... I decided to check the ground connections for the fans.. the ones that were supposed to go to temp sensors but I didn't because I was cheap... I followed the wires with my finger. One lead to a ground (good). I followed the other wire with my finger and noticed the wire was very loose.. so I decided to give it a tug.. that was when I noticed that it wasn't connected to anything..

I connected the wire back to the nearest ground I could find and turned on ignition. BOTH FANS ARE NOW WORKING!! 🤣🤣

How it happened:

Last November I was fixing a never ending exhaust leak and emissions code after getting a 2J email tune. I took apart and reassembled the intake manifold 1000 times looking for a leak.. It ended up being an exhaust leak on my Y Pipe.. so I was looking at the wrong place and had backwards secondary o2 sensors... (Long story)
Anyway I ended up fixing that exhaust leak code and drove happily ever after. I must have just forgot to replace the ground for the radiator fan during one of the intake manifold reassemblies.

I am now kicking myself because I have to put the radiator back on and refill coolant etc... I had no idea why I thought putting in new fans would make it work even though I know that there was no power there.. Also in hindsight, I could have just plugged the new fans into the pigtail connectors to test without taking out the radiator and see if it would "work" 😤. I guess the brightside is I now have new fans.

I have finished reassembling everything and I am now in the process of putting in coolant. I always get anxious doing this because I can never get it to burp by myself.

I have 3.78 Litre jug of Nissan Coolant and I mixed it with the same amount of water. The front of the car is on two jackstands, a jack, and the rear wheels are chocked to help prevent moving. Basically I am trying to simulate an incline.

I have filled the radiator and coolant reservoir with the mix. Currently there is 3.78 Litres in the car. I know more can go in. I believe these cars take something like 11 litres. So my remaining mix plus a bit more water should go in but isn't... Radiator cap and coolant reservoir cap is off. Car ran for 15 minutes but didn't burp too much.. I even squeezed the upper and lower radiator hose but I am scared to do more because it is quite hot. Last temperature reading was 86*C so it is warmed up I believe?

I had to call it a night (1am) since car was loud and didn't want to piss off my neighborhood..

What can I do to speed up burping tomorrow? Also I am extremely low on gas.. I haven't filled up in a while...

 

[Tritton]

Jack the front of the car up. Kinda high. Set on Jackstands. Run for a while. Park let sit. Refill, repeat.

 

[sleepisyummy]

Hi guys. Thank you again for the help and support.

I jacked the front end of the car up and let it run for 20 mins with radiator cap and reservoir cap off and maximum heat with defogger on. I saw the coolant boil and it did go down slightly. However I was only able to put in just a bit more coolant.. Total coolant/ water mixture refilled was 3.78L/ 1 Gallon. I drove around, let it cool, and checked levels and coolant still stayed the same levels. Maybe not all the coolant drained out of the system when I took off radiator.

Anyway my temps are now staying around 84-88*C.

This week we have a heatwave of over 30*C for most of the week. So I guess my repairs will be put to the test!

If I run into any trouble I will update.

 

[sleepisyummy]

I have been driving with the above setup for a few weeks now. After the last stretch of North West Heat Wave we had a period of nice cool weather. The car temps were fine during this time 88-95*C.

The past few days we have a mini heatwave and during stop and go traffic my car did get up to a high temp 110*C. So perhaps my set up is not optimal.

As mentioned previously my car fans are setup "pusher" style where the fans are mounted at the front of the radiator. The reason being is that there is no room behind the current radiator to even mount slim fans.

According to one of my friends he had a similar problem with his 240SX when he went with aftermarket fans. He took those off and went back to OEM and the fans were mounted "pulling" style. Apparently "pulling" would cool better. He also said I don't have any ducting so air would escape and go around the radiator.

I Googled some about Pusher vs Puller fans and it says puller fans do cool better compared to pusher fans. I also watched a video where some dudes were working on Miata that had cooling issues. They made some ducting with ABS plastic and they said it didn't do anything to improve their cooling (their fans were mounted "puller" style).

If funds allow I am willing to try a slim radiator and slim fans setup puller style and even change the thermostat while I am at it since it is all apart..

What are everyone's thoughts on this? Does puller actually cool a lot better?

 

[Tritton]

Ohhh, get a hideaway rad from a honda and fit it in.

 

[CrickiKaze]

Pullers have been proven to "cool" better, but if you don't have the space the best way to compensate is to get a higher cfm pusher.

Ducting helps but so does venting the hood to vent excess heat, that will allow the ducting to work me efficiently IIRC. I was going to cut up my oem hood a couple of inches behind the rad and bend it down and shape the metal a bit but haven't gotten to it cause reasons.

 

[sleepisyummy]

Damn radiators are expensive! Lol. And pretty much there is no drop in slim option..

Another thought came to me is that I remember there is some space behind the radiator for a slightly smaller fan. Perhaps I can mount a "puller" fan there and see if it will provide adequate cooling during stop and go traffic.

It may be the easiest and most inexpensive solution since I wouldn't need to take out the radiator.. I just need to check if I can wire in a third fan to the existing radiator fan wiring or if it will draw too much amps...

Thoughts?

EDIT: Photo uploaded.

 

[Revhead Kev]

You can always wire the new puller fan inplace of the 2nd pusher and discard it.

 

[sleepisyummy]

Ok I am switching up the game plan. My current setup is two 10" Pusher Fans mounted infront on the AC Condenser which is infront of the Radiator.

I quickly took some measurements and I think I am able to fit 14-16" Pusher fan mounted infront of the AC Condenser and an 8-10" Puller fan behind the radiator (driver side low area next to the tranny under the battery). Not sure if it would make a SIGNIFICANT improvement to the cooling in stop and go traffic in hot weather but I am willing to try it out.

Also my radiator is from a SR20DET. My buddy is saying he can sell me his Mishimoto SR20DET Radiator for $250 CDN. It has 8000 kms.. I am still contemplating if I really need to. My radiator does not leak and coolant always looks clean. However it is 10 years old and has seen better days... See pic below..