Cooling fan to close to radiator

C

chris varming

Member
Gentlemen, during the last 8 months I've been struggeling with my P6: new brakes, new pipes for petrol and brake fluid, fitted a power steering unit, changed the automatic transmission (BW65)for a more younger one and finaly fitted a modified SD1 engine. Now my problem is that the cooling fan is about 3 cm closer to the radiator compared with my other P6. It's not touching the rad but I'm concerned.... Have I misunderstood something? or is the SD1 engine 3 cm longer than the original P6 engine? The engine is correctly mounted in the 2 holes in the engine bay, gear box in place at the rear, propeller shaft in place. What have I done wrong? Do I hear laughter?? - Please give a good explanation if you can - I'm all ears. Thank you. Chris Varming+++
 
the SD1 has a long nose water pump, this may be your problem. I had the same issue with one bought. Someone had put an electric fan on the grille side of the rad as the normal water pump driven fan blade wouldnt fit.
 
Good evening Harvey - the water pump is the usual one for the P6 (thought there was only one kind?)- I have compared the pump with the other pumps I have, they are all the same. Chris+++
 
Well if the pump is the P6 one, and the engine is mounted in the correct position, then I can only think that the rad is too far back, rather than the engine too far forward.
 
Is it a standard radiator or a recored, thicker one? On my car, the nose of the water pump is approximately 50mm from the radiator. The engine driven fan fits in between.
 
Tor! You hit the nail directly on the head!!- The radiator has been recored and is thicker than the standard one. - But what now? My fan is about 20 mm from the rad. Can I remove the fan and install an electrical fan as the only one? - May be the subject has been a toppic before - but the original fan cools the whole engine compartment as compared with the electric fan, which I believe only takes care of the radiator or am I wrong? Regards, Chris Varming+++
 
Hi Chris,

Glad that was cleared up! In your case you will have run out of free space either behind or in front of the radiator, or both. I reckon your best bet would be a pusher fan in front of the radiator. You then "make" space in front by cutting out a section of the valance behind the grille centre piece. There's a lot of information in this thread on the subject of fans. I'm not sure I understand your reference to cooling the rad or the engine bay, and think that any fan is there to do the former, with the latter, in small measure, as a logical consequence since the moving air has to escape.

I've run mine without a fan since last year, now as a daily driver as long as my other car is off the road with an expensive fuel leak. It has a very well-working standard rad giving no hint of overheating even in the recent hot weather. The longest I sat in a queue was 15 mins. Still, I'm looking at a good 16-inch (adjustable-control) puller fan to squeeze in between the water pump and the radiator, probably off-centre to the left so that the 63-mm deep motor clears the pump nose. The radiator might also have to be edged forward a few mms, which it should be willing to do, in which case the fan could also clear the nose altogether.

Tor
 
Re: Cooling fan too close to radiator

Hello Tor - thanks for your thread it was in fact very useful - I did try to find something relating to the subject, but did not look under "electrics". Anyway, I've more or less decided to skip the engine fan and try my luck with an electric fan. Yesterday I handed in a rad to be recored and asked them to include a tap for the heating sensor unit. I have been a bit concerned about skipping the engine fan as I have been told it not only cools the radiator but also have a function to fan the engine bay, however, I think it was Stina, who had success with an electric fan only. - By the way, when talking to the radiator man, we noticed that the soft meatal between the cores were gone in certain places but intact otherwise. He mentioned that it could be due to corrosion (different metals?) and advised me to make a earth connection from the radiator to the car body frame. Has any of you in this forum experienced this phenomen?? Regards, Chris Varming
 
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