Radiator cooling fans

[northeast dmc]

As the adventure continues, I know that my brother had an issue with the car over heating, I pay attention to the temperature, and Saturday I visited my other brother to show him the car is back running again, and proceeded to talk with him for several minutes and not wanting to shut it off for fear of not restarting even though I have been able to most times, I kept an eye on the gauge, even though the fans come on after sitting for the period of time it started to get hot, so I abruptly left to get the air flowing better and turned the heat on inside to aid. All turned out well, but my question is what upgrades have people done to the original equipment and or shroud to help? It wasnt that hot out and it is only going to get hotter and I dont want to have an issue if I get in traffic and it starts to over heat. Thanks for any feed back.

[Bitsyncmaster]

After the fans turn on does the temp gauge keep climbing? Normally the fans will run a few minuets if your car is just sitting and the temp gauge comes down and the fans turn off. If that happens there is not much more you can gain modifying the fans.

[CFI]

Air trapped in the system seems to be a common problem. I know my brothers car suffered from it. You may want to look into Toby’s cooling system bleed kit.

[Riley88]

Air trapped in the system seems to be a common problem. I know my brothers car suffered from it. You may want to look into Toby’s cooling system bleed kit.
ill go ahead and 2nd this. its super easy to install, and self bleeds the system at the themostat and you can manually bleed it at the upper radiator hose. Ive never had a overheating problem

[David T]

There are a few things you can do to keep your cooling system working at peak performance;

1) Bleed ALL the air out. Get a cooling system Pressure Tester (you can rent, borrow, or buy one) pressurize the system and loosen the little hose on the top, right side of the radiator till coolant comes out. Represurize and open the bleeder screw on the thermostat housing. Make sure the header tank is 1/2 full when cold. Test the pressure cap.

2) Flush the coolant every 5 years and refill with 50/50 soft water and Prestone anti-freeze.

3) If you have to always add coolant you have leaks. Find them and fix them.

4) Uprate the circuit breakers for the cooling fans and cabin fan if it hasn't been done. (get the relay upgrade kit, the circuit breakers are included in it)

5) Make sure there is nothing blocking the grill for the air intake for the radiator. A license plate can block enough air that you can overheat.

6) Replace the plastic header tank with a metal one. The plastic one cracks.

7) Replace the original radiator with plastic tanks for a metal one.

8) Check the weep hole on the bottom of the neck of the water pump. If you see wetness or staining, it is leaking and should be replaced

9) If you have an early car and your "O" switch is on top of the pipe it needs to be modified so it is on the bottom of the pipe.

10) Make sure both fans work, the fan blades are not loose on the shafts and they are turning to pull the air through the radiator.

[dn010]

Years ago I installed DeloreanGo's aluminum radiator and DPI's high flow fans with stainless shroud. It seems the fan CFM is much more than stock and the amp draw is a lot less. These were installed not because of cooling issues but rather because my stock radiator began to leak at the tank seams and the cooling fans were rusty with cracked wires along with the fact they would nearly crash my electrical system when they'd turn on and take a while to do their job. Even on the hottest days here in Florida I do not have any issues with cooling. Like the posts say above, nothing will work if you have leaks or bubbles, missing shroud, etc. A maintained and operational stock system does work, I drove over a decade with it installed and had no issues but I feel much better driving with the parts I have installed now.

[David T]

Years ago I installed DeloreanGo's aluminum radiator and DPI's high flow fans with stainless shroud. It seems the fan CFM is much more than stock and the amp draw is a lot less. These were installed not because of cooling issues but rather because my stock radiator began to leak at the tank seams and the cooling fans were rusty with cracked wires along with the fact they would nearly crash my electrical system when they'd turn on and take a while to do their job. Even on the hottest days here in Florida I do not have any issues with cooling. Like the posts say above, nothing will work if you have leaks or bubbles, missing shroud, etc. A maintained and operational stock system does work, I drove over a decade with it installed and had no issues but I feel much better driving with the parts I have installed now.

The cooling system in the Delorean can be satisfactory BUT as the quote says, it must be properly maintained so it can work as good as it can. Anything that prevents it from working perfectly can cause an overheat. In my previous post I mentioned some things that can maintain and improve it's reliability. Realize that it is around 38 years old and probably should be completely gone over replacing the water pump, seals, gaskets, belts, bearings, hoses, clamps, radiator, "O" switch and seal, and header tank. That means pulling the intake manifold. Big job. But if you want a "bulletproof" cooling system that doesn't leak and won't overheat your motor, it is what should be done. Price out what most vendors call their "Master Water Pump Kit". It includes everything you would need to to a "top job" on the motor short of pulling the heads.

[northeast dmc]

The cooling system in the Delorean can be satisfactory BUT as the quote says, it must be properly maintained so it can work as good as it can. Anything that prevents it from working perfectly can cause an overheat. In my previous post I mentioned some things that can maintain and improve it's reliability. Realize that it is around 38 years old and probably should be completely gone over replacing the water pump, seals, gaskets, belts, bearings, hoses, clamps, radiator, "O" switch and seal, and header tank. That means pulling the intake manifold. Big job. But if you want a "bulletproof" cooling system that doesn't leak and won't overheat your motor, it is what should be done. Price out what most vendors call their "Master Water Pump Kit". It includes everything you would need to to a "top job" on the motor short of pulling the heads.

Thanks for all the feed back, the hoses, water pump is brand new. The shroud does have some damage, when I replace it, being the fans are as old as they are, and did sit for an extended period of time would it be a good investment to replace them? As far as the temperature, it does drop once the fans come on, Saturday was the first time sitting outside and running idling for an extended period of time. I will check on the air in the cooling system, the reservoir tank is down alittle, I will add some and see if there is air in the system.

[David T]

The original fans can move enough air to cool the car but they are very hard on the electrical system. Newer, more modern fans can move even more air using less current. Once the car is moving over 30 MPH the fans are not as important.

[dn010]

All the original equipment is nearly 40 years old now. If you want piece of mind, upgrade the fans, shroud and radiator. As mentioned, if your radiator is plastic I would replace that sooner than later because it will begin to leak. If the fans are currently working just fine, then perhaps add them to the bottom of your to-do list and spend the money on more priority items you have issues with. Just my .02

[northeast dmc]

Thank you for the feed back, I did find the coolant level was slightly low, added coolant and bled the little air and last couple trips (short) the temp level stayed a little more steady, and when Idling for a short period of time seem to stay in the corect temp range. i will put the new fans and radiator on the to do list. once I get it to start better.