I have a 1984 Fiero, and my radiator fan is about to die. Three of the magnets were loose and the circlip retaining the hub to the end of the shaft broke in half. I tried gluing the magnets back in but I only succeeded in making them rub against the armature. I tried buying a replacement fan motor from Autozone but the one they say is for a 1984 Fiero won't bolt in without extensive adapting.

Does anyone know if a fan assembly from a later year fiero will bolt to the radiator assembly of a 1984 car? The reason I ask is that the Fiero store has one for a 1985 or 1986 Fiero (a motor only) but not for a 1984.

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by William Federle (edited 05-24-2000).]

Yknow- I replaced a fan motor in my '90 GM van last weekend, and it looked remarkably like the one in my '86 SE. The one for the van was for a '92, but i bought it anyways and it matched perfectly.

I guess my point is that Autozone might have it...listed under a different year or different model. They'll tae it back if it dont match, too.

I think if you get the fan, bracket and all from a latter year it should go in without to much trouble.

I think the newer ones are just bolted to the radiators frame. worst thing you should have to do is drill a couple holes. I'll look at mine later when I go outside for lunch. I never paid much atention to it.

In realitly any good size electric fan will work. Even aftermarket ones. you could even use 2 smaller ones. 2 smaller ones done right can actually move more air than a single large one.

the only thing you have to watch out for is if you have a 2 speed fan. if you replace it with a single speed fan you'll need to splice a connector for it to the car harness. I don't have a diagram handly to tell you hot to wire it. It's not hard.

I just checked with a pontiac dealer here in Fond du Lac. The motor is still available - they list one for AC and one for no AC. Mine technically has AC. They want 279.00 for it.

There are only two electrical connections on the motor. One for ground and one for pos.
The 2 speed selects whether to connect to the wire that goes straight to the pos conn. or whether to connect to a 0.3 OHM 50 W resistor which then goes to the pos. conn.

I looked at the motors that Autozone has. They will take a lot of adapting. Their flange is smaller than the hole that the existing motor fits snuggly into. I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and adapt something. Autozone's price is good - just $23.99.

Too bad you have an 84. I replaced the fan on my 87 SE in about ten minutes at a total cost of $27.00. Guess that doesn't help you.

Never mind...........

the OE fan assembly in mine (87)just bolts to the radiator support frame. I don't see why you couldn't find one and put it in the 84. you could probly even take it off something besides a Fiero with about the same size radiator. nearly $300 is way to much for a stupid fan motor.

Even if you can't find a whole fan you should be able to find another GM fan motor at the yard that will fit and be cheap. If you go this way take your bracket & motor out so you can compair them before you buy it.

I did look.... there's not really enough room for 2 fans on this one. I thought it was wider. It's almost square.

Like I said. you don't have to use the 2 speed fan. You can just tie the 2 hot leads together and then the fan will activate at full speed. It's just a little noisier at full speed. It won't hurt anything. I just can't remember which wires the two hots are.

If you really want 2 speeds and the resistor is good you can simply move the 84 wiring from the old fan to the new one. just splice the wires using waterproof splices or they will rot off. then it will plug direct to the original car harness. For this you splice the incomming hot and resistor leads to the single hot on the motor. You might have to make a little bracket to hold the resitor if you are changing the whole frame. It gets Real warm.

you don't have to worry about it being OE unless it's a show car where some dink judge might take off a point or 3 for it.

I took the thermostat out to get to and from work today. Coming home it was around 80 deg F. and I had to turn the fan on a few times. It wouldn't run in low speed, and in high speed it pulled the voltage down to 13V. Before this happened it could hold above 14 volts with my new alternator. I finally got it home and took out the fan assembly. I'm getting real good at that. I took the loose magnets out of the motor and cleaned the silicone sealant off of them and the motor case. Now I'm almost back to the original situation - It runs good in low speed now. The only thing is it still pulls the voltage way down in high speed. I think it will give me a breathing spell until I can locate a 1987 fan assembly in one of the local bone-yards.

This is no show car by any stretch of the imagination. It's just my daily driver. Sometimes it makes my 50 mile commute the best part of my day. I'm just trying to keep it running without spending a fortune.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and information.

[This message has been edited by William Federle (edited 05-24-2000).]

I hear that..... no way I'd spend that kind of money for a stupid fan motor. Like I said.... you can probly find a suitable motor on almost any old GM car. You might have to play with the bracket but it should be less than aftermarket.

What did you stick the magnets in with this time? An epoxy would work good.

check over the rest of the cars wiring.... all the leads off the starter and all the ground ties for the battery and engine. If you're dropping voltage you may have loose wiring back there. Do the headlights drop the voltage as well?

get someone to do one of the free charging system checks to make sure the alternator is working right.

I just stuck the magnets back in after cleaning all of the RTV off of them and as much of the double-sided tape as I could get off.

It runs well at low speed now. Before this started I could turn on every single electrical device in the car including headlights and the rear window defoger AND have the fan on high speed and the volts would hold right around 14. I had just put in a reman'd alternator. Now they drop to almost 13 if I put the radiator fan on high speed. It's the same circuit, just bypassing the resistor. I think that there's probably wobble in the fan since the magnets aren't evenly spaced now and also since some of them are closer to the armature than others. Maybe that causes excessive current draw that is made worse at high speed.

Whatever the reason, the car cools off well enough at low speed. I have an 180 deg thermostat in it and I keep the fan running continuously. The temp seems to cycle from slightly less than 190 deg to slightly above 190 deg. Of course if it gets warmer it might not cycle. I'm checking the local junkyards for a newer fan assembly. Then I can use one of those inexpensive fan motors and my worries will be over. HA!

a small temperature swing with the fan on low is likely normal. Don't forget that not only do you pick up air flow as you move but the water is pumped faster as well. If it's sitting about 190 with the 180 stat in that's good.

yeah, the magnets being out of place will do odd things to the motor. I'd still check those wires to be sure. I believe the fan runs off one of the fuse links back there. You could have one loose or cruddy.

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 05-25-2000).]

Chris West sells a kit to allow your 84 to use newer style fans. I think you can get it in two forms: 1) $95 "Kit includes fan motor, adaptor, all mounting
hardware and instructions for quick, easy
installation" and 2) $35 for the adapter only.

You can check it out at the bottom of this web page at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~chriswest/Upgrades/Upgrades.html

I hope you find a solution that works well and is affordable. Have fun with your fiero.

Ogre, you were right about the fusable link. One blew on the way home. I was cruising along at 65MPH and suddenly everything got very quiet. I checked down by the starter - that's where the last one that went was located - but it feels ok there. It was 4:00 when it quit and it was about 8:30 PM before the tow truck found me.

Never try to go anywhere with a questionable fan. I guess I'll remember that from now on.

DMAN - thanks for the link. I've been to that web site before but I didn't notice the fan kit. If I can't find a bone yard with what I need, I think I'll get the adaptor.

[This message has been edited by William Federle (edited 05-26-2000).]

Ogre - Do you know if you can make a fusable link if you have a piece of wire 4 gages lower than the wire you're replacing the fusable link from OR do you have to buy a fusable link because it's made out of some special wire?

The fusable link that I thought was OK down by the starter was melted inside of the wire loom I had put on it. I wish they had put those fusable links up by the battery like they did in later models.

Thanks.

Fuse links are calibrated for length, type of wire, and wire gauge. No, they aren't normal harness wire. They also have a special insulation on them. The insulation is designed to cook off without starting a fire.

Don't attempt to make one. You can get then at any parts store. They must be crimped to the car harness. do not alter them in any way or solder them. pack the crimp with dielectric grease or RTV silicone to prevent corosion.

don't loom them when you put them back together. leave the links exposed but tied away from hot things. Anything you might wrap them with could eliminate the fire supression of the link insulation.

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 05-28-2000).]

Well, my car's back on the road. I got a Hayden replacement fan and adapted it to the original fan frame. I also got a fusible link from Autozone and replaced that. I'm going to look around for some sort of junction block or splitter bar that I can install near the battery to provide a better way to attach all of the wires connected to the positive terminal. I've found at least 4 besides the big wire to the starter solenoid.