Fan in engine area

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3 May 2002
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Someone can tell me something about the sense of the fan installed at the right side of the engine.
I never heard that part, not even after some track laps.
Is it right that NSX's year 95+ dont have this ?
I would like to remove and save some weight.
 
Early cars had it, 95 and newer don't. You will not save that much weight.....it is only a few pounds. The initial intent was for supplemental cooling of the engine compartment.
 
AndyVecsey said:
Early cars had it, 95 and newer don't. You will not save that much weight.....it is only a few pounds. The initial intent was for supplemental cooling of the engine compartment.

I never seen it turn on my '91 NSX. anyone knows at what temperature it should start working ?
 
I never saw mine running, until i had a severe overheating of the engine.




Mich
 
Yes the "X" has a hot engine bay but with Honda removing the fan completely in later years it must not be much of an issue. If you are running a non stock short intake having a cooler engine bay may provide a little more power. Also I would guess the engine bay temp. is not directly related to the coolant temp. The ambient temp. affects the engine bay temp more.
 
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Briank said:
Yes the "X" has a hot engine bay but with Honda removing the fan completely in later years it must not be much of an issue. If you are running a non stock short intake having a cooler engine bay may provide a little more power. Also I would guess the engine bay temp. is not directly related to the coolant temp. The ambient temp. affects the engine bay temp more.

Could it be wise to put a temperature gauge in the engine-bay area?? And yes what is the best place, and what temperature should it read maximum? I know this aren't figures that Honda will publish, but maybe someone has done this before?
 
my bro and i

Well I have seen mine come on. I wondered if mine even worked till one day i tried it after a little cruise for about 30 minutes in TX heat. Upon arriving back home and parking in the garage. I heard my radiator fan came on, I then opened the engine hatch to see if my rear fan came on, it wasn't. So i turned of the car completely off and the front radiator fan turned off. So i closed the door with the window open and turned my key to the on position. The front radiator fan came on, a minute later my rear fan came on. I tried this the next day when the car wasnt as hot and cooler weather. Same steps as above and the fan came on again. This was after I had the car warmed up and a 5 minute normal drive. I had my car checked and everything is fine. I was trying to see what triggered or what would make the fan come on.

Right now my bro and I are trying to install another fan in the engine compartment if we can find a spot so we can manually keep the engine compartment flowing with air when in traffic. The front radiator fan we are putting SPAL fans and routing a manual switch to turn it on when we feel necessary. I will post pics when finished of our progress.

laters
gil
 
Regarding the fan turning on after your shut off the engine, it's a common effect of heat soak. What happens is that the heat generated by your engine while driving is constantly being pumped out by the coolant to the radiator so the engine stays at a cool let's say 91deg C. But the moment you shut off the engine, the last bit of heat in the components (block, pistons, blah blah) are still there but your water pump has stopped running. So that heat gets soaked into the coolant and raises the coolant temperature a few degrees to say 98deg C. And if your fan coolant sensor happens to be triggered then the fan turns on when the ignition is on.

I have datalogged engine temperatures during track events before, and the engine would stay under 100 deg C while on the track, but the moment the session ends and I pull into the pad dock, the temperature would spike up to as high as 115 deg C for a few minutes. It will eventually cool down of course.

This is a particular problem for older turbo engines where the turbine bearing is been cooled by the engine oil. Right after driving, the turbine can be so hot (since it's connected to the exhaust) that if you shut off the engine right away, the oil stops flowing and the turbine will heat soak itself and degrade the turbine bearing. I remember a friend of mine a few years back with a VW Corrado and everytime we go out to eat in his car, he would have to sit in the car for like 3 minutes after we get there. It's a hassle.

But in your case, I am sure your engine isn't overheating unless your temp gauge on your dash is all the way up so you should be alright.


Eddy
 
If you want the fan on more frequently,as in traffic on hot days, you can wire in a switch and run the wires into the cockpit. I did this with a Ferrari I had had which would overheat in traffic.(In the case of the Ferrari, there was no engine bay fan. I had wired the switch to overide the sensor which ran the radiator fans). If you splice your switch into the existing wiring (vs rewiring to a switch only) it should still work automatically, but would give you the option of turning it on/off at will.
 
My fan runs at Spa in 2004. It was the only time I have seen it running. It was quite warm that year.

It probably doesn't do much when running, I doubt it makes a difference to the engine, but I'm guessing was a safety feature for keeping the engine bay area temp under control.

I could say you don't drive fast enough Detlef, but I know you do:smile:
 
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