How do I test if my fans are blowing the right way? Long story short - I've switched out about everything and this thing is still overheating at idle even with the fan running.....overheats with the a/c turned on with BOTH fans running - but ONLy at idle. switched out t-stat and several temp. switches, flushed and bled. the radiator several times....

how do i test and reverse the fans if needed? could this be a cause at all?

 

stick your hand down between the fans and header, however i would not recommend this.....

 

Turn on the AC so the fans are running. Reach in thru the window & shut off the key. You'll have enough time to watch the fans coast to a stop.

 

which way SHOULD they be turning (if looking at them from the exposed side) so I know what to look for? thanks in advance.

 

I don't remember, look at the blade shape. They should suck air thru the radiator & blow towards the engine.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JimBlake &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't remember, look at the blade shape. They should suck air thru the radiator & blow towards the engine.</TD></TR></TABLE>

if u put your hand over the heatshield/header the air coming through the radiator/fans should be enough so that you can feel it coming off of the header/block and going up towards your hand

 

have you messed with the wires? If not they will still blow in the right direction. If your car is overheating I would check other things if the fans are still on.

 

teh fan is blowing the right way...here's what i've done so far
switched t-stat, switched switch A on the t-stat housing, bled & flushed system a few times, checked fans -- they all run when they're supposed to. the hoses are all hot when they're supposed to be - meaning the anti-freeze mixture is flowing. yet i still overheat only when idle. if i drive it's fine, but if i'm stop-and-go at red lights, i overheat while idle. it worked perfectly for about 2 weeks after i switched out switch A but now it's doing it again.

I'm an idiot though, after I bled it last time I forgot to tighten one of the hoses all the way and the anti-freeze all leaked out and i overheated with no anti-freeze in the car - I know, dumb move. since that happend, i filled & bled the radiator again - still having the problem. I'm wondering if it started overheating because of a lack of anti-freeze in the system, then when it ran out could it have broke my t-stat and/or switch again?

 

probably blew a head gasket, take it to a radiator repair shop and let them put the pressure checker on it and start the motor and see if it is building a lot of pressure in the radiator(over 14lbs), if it is then the head gasket is blown and letting compression from one of the cylinders escape into the coolant passages in the head/block, thus causing the motor to overheat.

 

bump^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

not that i'm credible or i think you're wrong - i just have a hard time believing that'st he problem given...

it was running exactly like this for the past 2 years, then when i replaced the switch on the t-stat housing it worked fine for 2 weeks until it leaked fluid due to user (my) error of re-tightening a hose. Now that I re-filled the fluid, it's just like it was before.