safe to drive without fan?

[ricktb]

I drove into a ditch which broke both my fans (snow in the engine bay), and I still need to drive 220 km to get it home. Is it safe to drive with only a working radiator and cool outside tempuratures? I'll probably be going 100km/h so theres still air movement through the rad. Should I attempt a roadside repair? I can get a replacement fan from partsource, are the ac fan and the rad fan the same? (One is discontinued, so I can get 2 of the same fan to fit?) Also what tools are needed to swap these fans?

Thanks
-ricktb

 

[Supa Dexta]

Depends how cold it is out, also keeping the heat on full blast will help pull heat from the engine, but you'll have to watch it like a hawk. Its pretty crappy out, and about -10. You should be ok, but should it start to climb just pull over and shut it off. I had to rip my summer wheels off yesterday and throw my winters back on my daily driver..

 

[diggerzmound]

Mine don't run unless I sit and idle the car. They usually don't run down the road unless you have the AC on.

Just keep an eye on your temp gauge and don't sit and idle.

 

[Marcus92]

me and my friend drove his old talon like 80 miles or so without a radiator fan, so long as you constantly keep moving and no stops or rush hour stop and go traffic you wont overheat the car especially in cooler air.. we did it in the middle of july like 90 degrees out..

 

[Splitpi]

Fan is only useful while idling.... anything above 20 mph should have enough air flow to cool. Remember the water pump moves the fluid through the system, the fan helps to move air over the radiator to cool it when the car is not moving or at slow speeds.

I would just be very careful.... because even after you arrive at your destination and turn the engine off, its still hot and via the process of thermal flow, the anti-freeze will still cycle through the radiator to some degree and gain heat due to the fan not being able to run and draw in cold air.

 

[gixxerdrew]

Just watch your temp gauge and then fix the problem ASAP. No fan is only a problem if you get too hot. Watch those temps like a hawk and if it gets too high pull over and let things cool. Might take you a very long time to get somewhere if you have to stop a lot but as long as you shut it down before it overheats you'll come out OK.

 

[ricktb]

Thanks everyone, I took your advice and decided to drive it home anyway. Turns out the coolant temp stayed maybe a bit above normal, but not anywhere close to the red. I turned on my heater full blast and the needle came back down to normal! This post saved me $250 in tow truck. Heres a photo of the fans after I took them off, kinda like cheese! Maybe a performance rad/fan combo is in my near future

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[chodaboy3545]

glad too see you got home. that fan is messed up