Is that cooling fan supposed to always be on?

[Luke]

I don't know enough about my 240 yet to know, but the main cooling fan closest to the engine always stays running. Now, i am having a problem with a screeching (belt) after 6000 rpms(under hard acceleration). I wondered if this could be why. What made me thing about it was that it did it even worse and at lower rpms when i had the a/c runing.

[maxpower]

Never turns off in my s14 either. It sounds obnoxiously loud when the engine is cold and once it warms up the fan speed seems to lower. I need new belts too because the old fan blade crushed and torn all the accesory belts, so that now it sounds like there's an orchestra playing in my engine bay.

[MaineExport]

On the s14... the larger fan is called a clutch fan. It is attached to a pulley and it will ALWAYS spin when the engine is running. It will spin a little slower when the engine temp has not enguaged the clutch... as the engine heats up... a bi-metallic spring bends more and more... the tighter it gets, the more the fan engauges and it will spin along with the engine. It will never stop spinning if the engine is running... just slower or faster. Your squeeky belt is an actual problem... either they need to be tightened or replaced. Or, possibly, you might have a bad alternator, ac compressor, water pump, power steering, or a bad pulley on any of them. No need to worry yet, just check your belts... and tighten or replace them accordingly. If it continues... then look into it further.

[Luke]

Wow, I acually got some decent replies. I did check for tightness on the belts and it is tight, it looks pretty new to me too. I don't know a lot about that though.

[MaineExport]

Wow, I acually got some decent replies. I did check for tightness on the belts and it is tight, it looks pretty new to me too. I don't know a lot about that though.

Too tight can be bad as well. There should be enough play to push the belt about 1/4 inch down... or pull it up the same amount. If they look new than it's unfortunately something else. I would assume it might be your A/C compressor since it happens more with it on.... but that could just be a result of it putting more load on the belt, and the REAL culpret making more noise. Bring it to a mechanic... or try to diagnose it yourself. Since it starts at 6000 rpms (please don't rev it that high ) it might be an engine component going bad like I mentioned in the earlier post.