USN350

Hello all I am new to this forum. Well today I got my new sound system put into my 2006 350z. After I drove home I decided to go to a friends while showing off my system the a/c went from cool to hot pretty quick. I looked at my temp and I was overheating. I quickly shut off the car looked under the hood.. No leeks everything looked fine. I had my friend start it and the driver side fan was spinning fine. Passenger side.. Nothing. Turned the car off and tried to manually spin it. Kinda stuck little grinding feel. If I replace the whole fan unit will this solve my problem? I'm not tech savvy but I need this done tomorrow, I ordered the part. Have not paid for it but the store has it. I'm home on leave after my 10 month deployment in the navy and I have to drive back to Cali in 2 days. Please any info is despritly needed. Thank you!

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

Thank you for your service - 10 month deployment...ekkkk, better man than me!

Your cooling fans are only effective from 0-30mph after that it's the passive air that cools your radiator. If you drive the car above 30mph the cooling fans are not a factor...did you overheat while you were cruising?

Do the simple stuff first - check that your radiator is full...when the engine is cold, open your radiator cap and peek into the radiator - will it take additional coolant? fill it up all the way with a coolant/distilled water mix at whatever ratio you use...replace the cap and see if the car overheats - both at idle/less than 30mph and at crusie/above 30mph.

USN350

It was overheating just parked in the drive way. Then I drove to 7-11 and it overheated again. I'm going to go check the rad now. Will post what I see. Yeah 10 month on a ship sucks. Good to be home but wasn't wanting these problems

USN350

Rad is full so it's not that. Checked fuses all good. But that fan has a grind sound when I try to spin it.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

I would check your thermostat next...google the procedure to see how to remove it (it's pretty easy) and check that it's functioning (thermostat boil test). It may be stuck closed and not allowing coolant to flow through the engine block. The one (of many) downsides to doing this is that you will need to re-bleed your coolant system after you button everything back together which is troublesome.

I wouldnt focus too much on your fans - you said the drivers side fan kicks on and appears to be operating normally while the passenger side does not spin as freely?

I run a single 16" fan on a turbo built my temps will reach 205 and the single fan will kick on and have it down to 185 in a few minutes time.

koren

iTrader: (23)

Guys, stop guessing, you can check if the fans are working on both speeds with a simple procedure:
- open the hood
- spray some water on the windshield (if you don't want your wipers clean it on dry surface)
- turn ignition on
- there is a door switch (not on the door) right next to the door lock (you only can see it when the door is open), within 20 seconds after you turned the ignition in ON position puch that door lock button 10 times.
- turn the ignition off
- within 10 seconds turn it back on.
- get out of the car and look at the fans
You will enter test mode for the wipers, lights, A/C and cooling fans. Wait for the car to do all of the tests, cooling fans are the last one.
The car will do the same tests for 3 times, you can turn the ignition off any time to stop the test.
The system will check fans operating on both speeds.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

^not really guessing...that's a neat diagnostic trick ...but the OP knows he has a bad fan...my point of my first two post was that the fans only do so much at low speeds...if the OP is overheating the car during cruise than the fans are out of the equation and he has another problem...

seeing that the car (presumably) sat for 10 months I would guess that the thermostat is stuck in the closed position...

Italianjoe1

iTrader: (6)

You know the fan is bad, replace them. Nothing special about that, you already found the problem.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

Am I the only one that understands the fans are a non-factor past 30mph? If you drive faster than ~30mph the passive airflow does more heat transfer than the fans - the fans are actually pretty weak...if the op is still over heating at 30mph or greater than the fans have no effect

yes, the fans are a problem but they are not the root problem...

koren

iTrader: (23)

Your statement about 30mph is not correct. I had the same problem with one of the fans, and it was overheating on 45mph (it always around 80F here), especially when you drive for a while.
Sometimes the arrow was above normal even on 55mph, I had to go 75-80mph to bring it down.

And if the thermostat went bad together with the fan, he would not be able to drive it even for a little bit.

Italianjoe1

iTrader: (6)

OP says when he was sitting showing off the stereo, makes me think it was at idle... this over 30mph point is irrelevant.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

^I'm just regurgitating a well written article on the subject that I came across bc I had some cooling issues a little while back.

I would invite each and everyone (who cares) to take your cooling fans off, hook them up to 12 volt / ~15amps and run them...they really don't move that much air.

I will post a video

scotth67

I know this is an old thread, but I'm battling this issue beyond what has been posted. My wife was driving and told me the AC wasn't working. It was intermittent at best. By the time she got home, the AC wasn't kicking in. I opened the hood and smelled something burning. I figured the fans were gone since they were not running. I checked the gauge at it was beginning to rise, but it never got to the top before I turned it off. I found the 40A fuse for the fans burned out, so I replaced that along with the fan housing with both fans. I've done this before, minus the fuse, and it solved the problem. I also replaced all 3 fan relays, Now, only one fan (driver's side) is running. I did the test with the ignition on and pressing the door switch 10 times. I watched the test cycle run through everything, and still only the driver's side fan powered on. It did switch from low to high, but the passenger side fan never kicked on. I'm really at a loss here, and I'm hoping someone has some insight as to what else to check.

Atreyu'z 350

One of your fan motors could be bad. Try switching the connectors to see if the same thing happens to the other fan..