electric fan kills my motor?

[redwolf5514]

working on timing my engine, tps disconnected with fan hooked up runs fine, tps connected it idles up then cuts off, restart engine runs rough then connect fan to battery motor dies, WTF could it be my alternator is going bad or a short in a wire some where?

[NISTECH]

sounds like your IACV is not compensating for the load. now why I am not sure as your set up is altered from factory.

[redwolf5514]

I have no clue if the guy before me mod-ed the engine or not. I bought the car last year and have been working on it ever since. I thought it was only a few problems but that idea went out the window on week two. I have been having timing problems with the car, now that I thought that the car was close to right this happens. At 20 degree engine sputters, idles real low and has some of the most nauseous exhaust that I have ever been around starts to come out. At any other timing setting no black smoke (+/- 5). Also at 20 the timing bounces +/- 5/10 degrees always turning to 20 before bouncing again. Not to mention that idle is very erratic. Please help thanks

[NISTECH]

well accoring to your profile you have a 89 240 with a DE engine in it,That is a major mod. Its hard to say whats going on since that engine doesnt belong in that car.

[s13sr20chris]

the timing bounces with the tps plugged or unplugged? it should bounce when the tps is plugged. double check your valve timing.

[redwolf5514]

it bounces with it plugged. that's when all the black smoke comes out. engine is fine unpluged then goes to hell once it's pluged. plus when ever i connect the fan when pluged the car shudders and dies unless some one is on the gas.

and yes it is a 89 body with a 91 motor plus I do have a msd sci connected right now. When I stated that I did not know of any mods I should have clarified the statment and said I don't know of any mods to the motor that the previous owner might have done. In my ignorance I did not think it matterd about what year the body was when we are talking about the motor, I should have clarified my statement.

I will check my valve timing tonight.

[NISTECH]

The problem with your set up for me is I dont know what harnesses are frankenstiened together or how its done. I question weather something is wrong there or not. That is why I brought that up. That would be the first place to look for me if I was working on it. Since pins have to be pulled out and swapped around I would make sure none of the terminals backed out.

[redwolf5514]

The problem with your set up for me is I dont know what harnesses are frankenstiened together or how its done. I question weather something is wrong there or not. That is why I brought that up. That would be the first place to look for me if I was working on it. Since pins have to be pulled out and swapped around I would make sure none of the terminals backed out.

WHAT? I have to frankenstien the harness!!! I thought the only thing I had to change on the harness was the clip that hooks up to the gagues. Is there anything else that has to change?

right now I'm using a 91 motor with a harness off a 92. Also the ECU is off the same 92 car.

[NISTECH]

I know the guys that do the SR swap are changing several of the connectors pin orientations in the connectors going into the main harness, I would assume to do that with the SOHC to DOHC swap the same is required. unless you are replacing both the engine and main harnesses.

[redwolf5514]

from my understanding (countless searches) the only thing that has to be spliced is the clip that leads to the gauge cluster as the 89-90 gauges will not read the weaker signal given by the DOHC motor. You would have to use the DOHC upper (engine) and lower (transmission) harness, not quiet as sure of the lower harness but it does not hurt, the 91+ gauges + wire clip, ECU and of course the motor and maybe transmission, igntion and distributer also. All of which I have installed. Is there anything else that I missed?

[NISTECH]

Starting from the begining of this thread ,it sounds as if the load is to much for the engine and it dies. So assuming the wiring for engine control was not hacked/frankenstiened together. I would have to say something is wrong with the IACV which is suppose to bump idle up when a load is put on the engine.

The way things work when you unplug the tps is the engine goes into "base" idle/timing mode.This means the ECM does not control the idle or timiing it locks it to a predetermined setting. What appears to be happining to your car is when you have your fan hooked up and the tps plugged in the ECM is lowering the idle instead of increasing it. The problem may be that the car did not come with an electric fan for the radiator, it only came with one for the a/c condensor. When it turns on the condensor fan it knows its on so it will bump the idle, to me it sounds like you are hot wiring a radiator fan up to cool the engine instead of the mechnical fan. If this is the case the ECM has no idea that fan is running and therefore doesnt know to increase the idle to compensate for it. You may be able to work around this by bumping up the base idle a bit and giving it more air to compensate for the load. The idle air screw is located at the back of the intake manifold from the side down low. It is located in a hole and is a large standard blade screw. rotate it conter clockwise to increase the idle and clockwise to lower the idle.