Cooling fan on rx8
12-04-2003, 12:45 AM
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Cooling fan on rx8
My cooling fan has come on and stayed on for up to 5 minutes in the last few days , has anyone else had similar experience ???
previously the fan would only come on for 30 seconds or so not 4-5 minutes.
michael
previously the fan would only come on for 30 seconds or so not 4-5 minutes.
michael
12-04-2003, 04:01 AM
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Originally posted by sco
Mine has only come on for 10 seconds since I have had the car... maybe I'm not driving it hard enough :-p
Mine has only come on for 10 seconds since I have had the car... maybe I'm not driving it hard enough :-p
12-04-2003, 05:23 PM
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I'm sure most of you know this, but...
The most likely time to actually hear the fan is when you go from working temperature to a standstill (i.e. no airflow to do the cooling and also less other noise to mask the fan sound).
So maybe at a set of lights after a bit of run, or if you let it idle for a minute or two when you get home after a run.
I hadn't heard it at all until I fitted a stone guard grille across the air scoop recently and did some temperature tests. I could see no difference at all, but just out of interest I let it idle when I got home. On came the fan. Not that noisy, and all as expected.
The most likely time to actually hear the fan is when you go from working temperature to a standstill (i.e. no airflow to do the cooling and also less other noise to mask the fan sound).
So maybe at a set of lights after a bit of run, or if you let it idle for a minute or two when you get home after a run.
I hadn't heard it at all until I fitted a stone guard grille across the air scoop recently and did some temperature tests. I could see no difference at all, but just out of interest I let it idle when I got home. On came the fan. Not that noisy, and all as expected.
12-04-2003, 07:16 PM
#10
Originally posted by sco
I assume it is not a Hymee stone guard... pictures are thus compulsory
I assume it is not a Hymee stone guard... pictures are thus compulsory
C'mon BVD - don't be bashful
Cheers,
Hymee.
12-04-2003, 08:17 PM
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Originally posted by BVD
Geez, you guys are observant!
OK I'll get out the camera and see what I can do.
Just don't expect work in Hymee's class....
Geez, you guys are observant!
OK I'll get out the camera and see what I can do.
Just don't expect work in Hymee's class....
12-04-2003, 09:51 PM
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Hmmmm.. I’m having trouble getting decent pics. My camera is dazzled by the yellow of the car and seems reluctant to take a clear picture of the grille. Maybe I’ll try again on the weekend with some artificial lighting. (Reading the camera manual might hep too... )
However, having just checked the pictures of Hymee’s grille on this forum, they look extremely similar anyway. One black mesh grille looks much like another.
Basically, it’s an almost identical sized mesh to the square one in one of Hymee’s early pics. It may have been a prototype as I see that his later ones had a rectangular profile. Anyway, mine is approximately 5mm centres, and perhaps (?) a fractionally heavier duty mesh. Hand painted black (not ideal with stainless – Hymee’s powder coating is the way to go, but I’m a bit slack and impatient with projects, and have only limited time to play….).
My main concern was not so much with bigger stones and rocks, but with the small sharp variety that we get around here. Harmless enough at rest but still lethal when fired at a relatively light gauge a/c condenser at 110kph. Despite technically living in the metro area (Hills outside Perth) we get numerous stone chips to the paintwork over time and my wife’s last car lost a windscreen due to a crack that spread from a chip, and I lost 2 screens in the same way.
So I went for something fairly fine, with the idea that if I wasn’t happy with the airflow results I could go back and make a wider one. I reasoned that the main limiting factor would probably be the flow through the a/c condenser + radiator, rather than the grille. The oil cooler is also pretty tight regarding airflow. Also Mazda have blocked off the whole top two thirds of the main grille so I figure they’re not that concerned about shortage of front airflow. Perhaps drilling out some of those blanked off lozenges would help if flow was a problem, but airflow is a funny thing….
I bought the mesh from a local metal merchant who had a nice pile of stainless steel mesh apparently recycled from a clay grading machine from the local brickworks. In excellent condition, and several spacing sizes available. A sheet about 1200 or 1300 x 1000 was $25. Plenty big enough for me to stuff it up a few times if needed.
However, having just checked the pictures of Hymee’s grille on this forum, they look extremely similar anyway. One black mesh grille looks much like another.
Basically, it’s an almost identical sized mesh to the square one in one of Hymee’s early pics. It may have been a prototype as I see that his later ones had a rectangular profile. Anyway, mine is approximately 5mm centres, and perhaps (?) a fractionally heavier duty mesh. Hand painted black (not ideal with stainless – Hymee’s powder coating is the way to go, but I’m a bit slack and impatient with projects, and have only limited time to play….).
My main concern was not so much with bigger stones and rocks, but with the small sharp variety that we get around here. Harmless enough at rest but still lethal when fired at a relatively light gauge a/c condenser at 110kph. Despite technically living in the metro area (Hills outside Perth) we get numerous stone chips to the paintwork over time and my wife’s last car lost a windscreen due to a crack that spread from a chip, and I lost 2 screens in the same way.
So I went for something fairly fine, with the idea that if I wasn’t happy with the airflow results I could go back and make a wider one. I reasoned that the main limiting factor would probably be the flow through the a/c condenser + radiator, rather than the grille. The oil cooler is also pretty tight regarding airflow. Also Mazda have blocked off the whole top two thirds of the main grille so I figure they’re not that concerned about shortage of front airflow. Perhaps drilling out some of those blanked off lozenges would help if flow was a problem, but airflow is a funny thing….
I bought the mesh from a local metal merchant who had a nice pile of stainless steel mesh apparently recycled from a clay grading machine from the local brickworks. In excellent condition, and several spacing sizes available. A sheet about 1200 or 1300 x 1000 was $25. Plenty big enough for me to stuff it up a few times if needed.
12-04-2003, 09:53 PM
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DOING THE JOB
Getting the front off was pretty straightforward. The only tricky part was separating the indicator light blocks, so I was grateful to have already read comments (Kev?) that it required a bit of zen concentration first time up. Amazingly, the tapered wooden plug I’d pre-made for the washer hose fitted (just) and actually worked.
Most of the time spent on the job was ‘pondering time’ as the available mounting spots are fairly limited and ‘plasticky’. I did play around for while with the idea of making the grilles removable from the outside (to make it easy to take them out if I needed to clean bugs out of the coolers) but in the end rejected it as too fiddly. Also, just lowering the plastic under-tray lets you get a hand and a brush in to the a/c condenser that way. Plus I now know how to take the whole front off in a few minutes anyway….
I made up cardboard test templates to help design and cut out the side grilles, and I also made an unnecessary grille for the empty side, just to match up with the oil cooler side. Both were cut to fit around the spotlights rather than mounted behind them. Thanks to the template this came out better than expected, although a perfect fit is never really possible with cutting square mesh. The main grille was very straightforward so I didn’t need to make a template first.
In the end I made all 3 in a sort of ‘box’ design so that they would be structurally rigid without relying on the mounting points for strength. In other words I cut the grilles quite a bit bigger than the part you see and then folded back along the edges. This provided both an L section style for strength, plus some tabs to reach mounting points. The ‘flaps’ I folded back were of varying sizes, the biggest would be about 100-120mm x 50mm (the various curves being the limiting factor). This made the grilles strong, but can’t be seen from outside the car.
I mostly used the existing mounting points, but did make one new mounting point up behind the central rotary shape (where it can’t be seen) and four more along the top attached to the existing upper grille.
Quite fun to do, if you like working on cars. I don’t anticipate any cooling problems, but will keep monitoring and adjust if needs be.
BTW, the only reason I didn’t buy one of Hymee’s very professional looking kits was because I (wrongly) thought he’d probably lose interest after the first batch, and I was too impatient to wait and find out. They certainly look like good value for the time, work and material involved, so I’d only suggest that die-hard tinkerers do what I did. Kudos to Hymee for blazing the trail and doing such a thorough job.
Aplogies for all the thread-clogging waffle.
Getting the front off was pretty straightforward. The only tricky part was separating the indicator light blocks, so I was grateful to have already read comments (Kev?) that it required a bit of zen concentration first time up. Amazingly, the tapered wooden plug I’d pre-made for the washer hose fitted (just) and actually worked.
Most of the time spent on the job was ‘pondering time’ as the available mounting spots are fairly limited and ‘plasticky’. I did play around for while with the idea of making the grilles removable from the outside (to make it easy to take them out if I needed to clean bugs out of the coolers) but in the end rejected it as too fiddly. Also, just lowering the plastic under-tray lets you get a hand and a brush in to the a/c condenser that way. Plus I now know how to take the whole front off in a few minutes anyway….
I made up cardboard test templates to help design and cut out the side grilles, and I also made an unnecessary grille for the empty side, just to match up with the oil cooler side. Both were cut to fit around the spotlights rather than mounted behind them. Thanks to the template this came out better than expected, although a perfect fit is never really possible with cutting square mesh. The main grille was very straightforward so I didn’t need to make a template first.
In the end I made all 3 in a sort of ‘box’ design so that they would be structurally rigid without relying on the mounting points for strength. In other words I cut the grilles quite a bit bigger than the part you see and then folded back along the edges. This provided both an L section style for strength, plus some tabs to reach mounting points. The ‘flaps’ I folded back were of varying sizes, the biggest would be about 100-120mm x 50mm (the various curves being the limiting factor). This made the grilles strong, but can’t be seen from outside the car.
I mostly used the existing mounting points, but did make one new mounting point up behind the central rotary shape (where it can’t be seen) and four more along the top attached to the existing upper grille.
Quite fun to do, if you like working on cars. I don’t anticipate any cooling problems, but will keep monitoring and adjust if needs be.
BTW, the only reason I didn’t buy one of Hymee’s very professional looking kits was because I (wrongly) thought he’d probably lose interest after the first batch, and I was too impatient to wait and find out. They certainly look like good value for the time, work and material involved, so I’d only suggest that die-hard tinkerers do what I did. Kudos to Hymee for blazing the trail and doing such a thorough job.
Aplogies for all the thread-clogging waffle.
12-04-2003, 10:34 PM
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BVD - sounds like your is similar to mine. I bent mine 90 degrees as well for added strength. I used spray paint on mine which made it nice and easy -- and you're right much of the time is spent pondering how to mount it. In the end I used a few tiny black zip ties to lock the bottom in position as well as a bunch of screws in the available screw mounts.
Cheers
sco
Cheers
sco
12-05-2003, 12:09 AM
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Hi sco,
I didn't realise that you'd made your own too.
Reassuring to hear that you used a similar technique.
I don't anticipate any airflow/heating problems, but I would be keeping a watchful eye on the gauges for the first summer anyway.
Now I know that taking the front off is pretty straightforward it would be easy enough to modify, or redo with wider mesh.
I didn't realise that you'd made your own too.
Reassuring to hear that you used a similar technique.
I don't anticipate any airflow/heating problems, but I would be keeping a watchful eye on the gauges for the first summer anyway.
Now I know that taking the front off is pretty straightforward it would be easy enough to modify, or redo with wider mesh.
12-05-2003, 01:43 AM
#17
BDV - Sounds like you did a great job (except the painting )
You got a really good deal on the mesh. They stuff I got was about 4 times the price. It sounds like the same stuff - 5.5mm aperature with 1.0mm wire. So it doesn't sound like the grill caused your fan to come on. Just the Perth heat.
Yep - it is fiddly working out how to mount them! One of the advantages of using the powder-coating is that the powder coat makes them very rigid. Sort of like a tack weld at each wire cross point.
I mounted mine on the oil cooler bracket.
Great work!
Cheers,
Hymee
)You got a really good deal on the mesh. They stuff I got was about 4 times the price. It sounds like the same stuff - 5.5mm aperature with 1.0mm wire. So it doesn't sound like the grill caused your fan to come on. Just the Perth heat.
Yep - it is fiddly working out how to mount them! One of the advantages of using the powder-coating is that the powder coat makes them very rigid. Sort of like a tack weld at each wire cross point.
I mounted mine on the oil cooler bracket.
Great work!
Cheers,
Hymee
12-05-2003, 01:56 AM
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Originally posted by BVD
Hi sco,
I didn't realise that you'd made your own too.
Reassuring to hear that you used a similar technique.
I don't anticipate any airflow/heating problems, but I would be keeping a watchful eye on the gauges for the first summer anyway.
Now I know that taking the front off is pretty straightforward it would be easy enough to modify, or redo with wider mesh.
Hi sco,
I didn't realise that you'd made your own too.
Reassuring to hear that you used a similar technique.
I don't anticipate any airflow/heating problems, but I would be keeping a watchful eye on the gauges for the first summer anyway.
Now I know that taking the front off is pretty straightforward it would be easy enough to modify, or redo with wider mesh.
12-05-2003, 02:05 AM
#19
BTW - Sco's grill is the same material as the "Hymee" grill.
Here is the page with the material specs:
http://www.metalmesh.com.au/html/mar...ess_steel.html
I think you are OK for cooling. The things BVD said about the cooler cores being the most restrictive bit makes sense.
Cheers,
Hymee.
Here is the page with the material specs:
http://www.metalmesh.com.au/html/mar...ess_steel.html
I think you are OK for cooling. The things BVD said about the cooler cores being the most restrictive bit makes sense.
Cheers,
Hymee.
12-05-2003, 04:49 AM
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Originally posted by takahashi
How do you know it is on?
Did you stick your head inside the front spoiler???
How do you know it is on?
Did you stick your head inside the front spoiler???
You can hear it running from outside the car.
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