Is it supposed to start running when the car is started, or does it pick up as the car heats up?

It's supposed to run when the radiator fan runs, when the temp gets up to 220 or so. Do you still have the tubes that run from the firewall holes to the coil and alternator? Otherwise it won't do much good - if it ever did.

If it's running when the car is turned on then it's prolly hot wired to the ignition somewhere. MANY Fiero owners hot wire the fan instead of using the factory temp switch

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Car Thread:
86 GT
//www.fiero.nl/forum/F...ML/085541.html

I threw it out along with its tubes as too much clutter. Didnt see any neg effects.

All of the tubing is there. It is just the last piece that i needed to "Test". I just noticed it never came on when ever we timed it or were working on it.

Though if it comes on when the radiator fan kicks in, that would explain why I have yet to notice it, because we always did everything in short bursts, and it was never my primary concern to see if it was running.

When I get it back from the shop tonight, ill check it, should be hot enough after the 20 min drive home

Thanks again.

Thats true. I show most of my cars so I like clean, detailed engines and it was just some more stuff it didnt need.

Seems like it wouldn't produce any short term effects by not having it installed, but would probably mean the alternator and ignition components would die a premature, overheated death.

If your car has A/C, turn your A/C on, that should kick on the blower. If everything is working properly, you can feel the airflow from the tubes in the engine compartment.

The fan should kick on when your radiator fan does, when the temp sensor engages it or the A/C is on.

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Tim
'87 GT Auto
Med Red Metallic
78K miles
Bay City, MI

[This message has been edited by trivet (edited 05-31-2012).]

quote Originally posted by trivet: If your car has A/C, turn your A/C on, that should kick on the blower. If everything is working properly, you can feel the airflow from the tubes in the engine compartment. The fan should kick on when your radiator fan does, when the temp sensor engages it or the A/C is on.

Now that! is a great tip.

I'll try it out tonight! Thanks

Now if by chance it doesn't work, how often does the actual blower go bad, in comparison to the relay.

I've driven quite a bit without the coil blower. The radiator fan doesn't even come on most of the time. Usually when it does I'm almost home, so I pop the trunk for a minute or so. I figure that does at least as much good as the blower would.

The fan is pretty small, like a computer fan. In fact you can probably replace it with a radioshack fan.

If I had the tubes I think I would hot wire the fan, put it on a thermostat, or at least a switch. If the radiator fan comes on it's probably a little late as far as the coil goes. Why have all that equipment just sitting there most of the time? The radiator fan probably draws a lot and it's noisy as hell, but the coil blower is probably very low draw and inaudible.

quote Originally posted by 85 SE VIN 9: The fan is pretty small, like a computer fan. In fact you can probably replace it with a radioshack fan.

That simply isn't true. The trunk blower fan is definitely much more robust than anything you'd find in a computer.

For piece of mind, I make sure all fans are functional in my GT. Heat kills electronic components. I'd like my alternator, coil and especially my ignition control module to be as cool as possible (within reason). I use the factory 195° thermostat along with Rodney's 210° on and 200° off fan switch. Works great. Proper coolant temperature for best mileage, and fans kick on a little sooner for increased cooling when required.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 05-31-2012).]

Somebody else suggested it could be used as a computer fan. Maybe they were being facetious.

Does anyone sell one? How about the tubes? I'd like to have this, but it's probably not worth a major effort or expense.

I may or may not have the fan itself. I've never pulled the carpet back to look. The holes are there and the fuse, although no fuse is in the socket.

I put over 100,000 miles on a 3.1 turbocharged engine without it. Still ran perfect when I sold it. Never lost a single alternator, and only a few ignition modules in that whole time (perfectly acceptable for the miles and are prone to failure anyway) 2 of those were AC that failed in a couple of weeks. Others were Autozone cheapies that lasted years. Also removed it on my V8 car as being worthless...ducts didnt go anywhere useful. I personally dont see blowing hot air on anything helping. Has anyone felt how much air they blow on anything. It barely blows a piece of paper in front of the tube.

I wonder if any of the 3800, 3.1, 4.3 or 4.9 guys have one.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 05-31-2012).]

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: I personally dont see blowing hot air on anything helping. Has anyone felt how much air they blow on anything. It barely blows a piece of paper in front of the tube.

Roger, it's air from outside of the engine compartment that gets drawn in by the trunk fan, and the force of the air coming out of the tubes is just fine. Maybe your fan was wired backwards and was trying to suck rather than blow.

quote Originally posted by Patrick: Roger, it's air from outside of the engine compartment that gets drawn in by the trunk fan, and the force of the air coming out of the tubes is just fine. Maybe your fan was wired backwards and was trying to suck rather than blow.

Agreed, i just tested it (turned ac on) and it had way more oomph than I had imagined.

Another thing I can check off my list

Yes it draws from the outside, but it goes thru the hollow metal trunk panel in the hot engine bay and comes out metal tubes. Its not cool. Mine worked when I bought the car just as it was intended. It made no difference to the operation or longevity of anything, therefore useless clutter. Name one person who removed theirs and had a problem, reinstalled it and problem went away. You wont find one. My car CD stereo could use a blower on it to keep cooler, but its not a necessity so they dont do it. If it was of any importance, it would have showed up in 7 years/ 100,000 miles.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: Name one person who removed theirs and had a problem... it would have showed up in 7 years/ 100,000 miles.

I think you've answered your own question Roger.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: I put over 100,000 miles on a 3.1 turbocharged engine without it... and only a few ignition modules in that whole time.

I ran a Fiero over the same mileage and never had a single ICM failure. GM wasn't in the habit of installing expensive items on a car they felt were useless. If they could've saved about ($25 X 66,000 V6 cars between '85-'87) = $1,650,000 by leaving the blower, ducting, and electrical mods off, don't you think they would have?

I always wondered why they deleted that blower on the 88s. Maybe that's why I went through so many ICMs with mine. I got to the point where I always carried a spare ICM and coil just in case.

No, the modules blow all the time with or without it. Its just a Fiero thing. The blower was thought to stop it, but GM figured im right and took them out of 88s. You just always assume your going to lose an occasional module, just like a light bulb. Ask how many have lost modules that have a working blower to answer your question. If you got 100,000 miles without changing a module, God is watching out for you. Its part of every Fieros emergency kit.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: Ask how many have lost modules that have a working blower to answer your question.

A working blower doesn't help if the cat clogs up and engine compartment temperatures skyrocket.

A working blower doesn't help if the EGR tube is cracked and hot exhaust gases are being spewed out right beside the distributor.

A working blower doesn't help if proper heatsink compound hasn't been applied between the ICM and the base of the distributor.


A working blower can't provide miracles.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: GM figured im right and took them out of 88s.

:slapshead: I just knew there was a reason.

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: :slapshead: I just knew there was a reason.

Heh heh... I like Roger (heck, we both go back to April '99 here), but yeah, that comment also struck me as kinda off the wall.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: GM figured im right and took them out of 88s.

...

I like to tease Roger.

quote Originally posted by Patrick: That simply isn't true. The trunk blower fan is definitely much more robust than anything you'd find in a computer. For piece of mind, I make sure all fans are functional in my GT. Heat kills electronic components. I'd like my alternator, coil and especially my ignition control module to be as cool as possible (within reason). I use the factory 195° thermostat along with Rodney's 210° on and 200° off fan switch. Works great. Proper coolant temperature for best mileage, and fans kick on a little sooner for increased cooling when required.

This is the truth. Maybe some of you have never felt a properly working trunk blower fan because mines BLOWS much cooler air into the engine bay. Without a doubt beneficial.

The useless blower barely does more than opening your mouth and blowing on it. Cars are full of useless parts, some designers have to justify their paycheck. The defogger on the rear Fiero window is another. The engine heat rising thru the gap is more likely to defrost it than the grid. I drove all of mine all winter and never in 10 years did I turn on that defroster because I never once had it fog up. In fact one of them I disconnected to use the grid for my radio antenna. Do you really need a blinking lite to tell you your belt isnt fastened. Might be wrong here, but does anyone really use the door or dash map pocket (it can hold a map or registration papers but thats about it)? Is there any point to a glove box lock when the door is easily broken plastic. I could prob come up with 50 others if I took the time. Ive got plenty of switches and dial in all my cars I dont even know what they do. After 5 years, I just discovered I have steering wheel controls for the radio in the Sebring. There more awkward to use than the ones right in front of me on the radio. Im not against anyone using that blower, I just found in my opinion, its just useless clutter that takes up space just as apparently GM figured out too by 88.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 06-02-2012).]

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: Thats true. I show most of my cars so I like clean, detailed engines and it was just some more stuff it didnt need.

In "regular" car shows new and/or unusual features, especially historically significant ones, are desirable. I would think the coil blower and heat sheilds might fit in all of those categories. After all the Fiero has many of those qualities: materials, manufacturing, engine placement and transaxle, four wheel independent suspension, and little things like the headrest speakers that make should make it interesting in car shows where mods are generally frowned upon. If I can find the parts, money and time I would like to install all the heat sheilds and blower parts with chrome plating to highlight them. Of course chrome plating things is frowned upon also...

"The defogger on the rear Fiero window is another. The engine heat rising thru the gap is more likely to defrost it than the grid."

I'm guessing you have never been in Wisconsin in the Winter. That defroster works just like it's supposed to.

"Ive got plenty of switches and dial in all my cars I dont even know what they do. After 5 years, I just discovered I have steering wheel controls for the radio in the Sebring."

Okay!

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: Cars are full of useless parts, some designers have to justify their paycheck... Might be wrong here, but does anyone really use the door or dash map pocket (it can hold a map or registration papers but thats about it)?... I just found in my opinion, its just useless clutter that takes up space just as apparently GM figured out too by 88.

Just my observations...I find that the map pockets are one of the only actual storage places in the car when there's no real glovebox or center console (the flip-down center console is useless because its so deep and narrow). Also, they changed the alternator in 88 with better internal cooling - maybe they felt the blower was no longer required at that point.