Another cooling fan project

[Shiniquiet]

I have a 2010 cruiser with about 65,000 on the clock. A couple of weeks ago I began to notice that the air from the air conditioner didn't seem all that cold when first starting the car. Once out of the driveway and down the road and moving everything was fine. Further, sometimes when I stopped at a light the engine would bog down, almost stalling. When starting the car cold I can hear the condenser clicking on but it doesn't sound like the fan is on. At least it doesn't sound the same as my wife's 2007 cruiser. I've looked at a bunch of threads on the forum which has lead me to believe that my problem is the cooling fan.

Some posts make it sound easy to change out the fan. Looking at some of the videos on YouTube makes it seem doable for except for the problem of getting at things underneath the car. All I have is the driveway, no ramps. lifts, etc. If I have to get underneath to do the project then I guess it's off to the shop for the mechanic to do. So I guess my one question is - Can I get to the bottom bolts on the fan with the car in the driveway? And, if I can, can I get to the bolts on the side from the top?

If you're still reading this and following along, let me throw something else in. What about the two relays on the top? Could either one or both of these be the problem and not the fan? I don't know what their function is. They certainly would be easier to get out than changing the fan.

Any insight or suggestions into my potential project would be appreciated.

[LionPT]

Originally Posted by Shiniquiet

I have a 2010 cruiser with about 65,000 on the clock. A couple of weeks ago I began to notice that the air from the air conditioner didn't seem all that cold when first starting the car. Once out of the driveway and down the road and moving everything was fine. Further, sometimes when I stopped at a light the engine would bog down, almost stalling. When starting the car cold I can hear the condenser clicking on but it doesn't sound like the fan is on. At least it doesn't sound the same as my wife's 2007 cruiser. I've looked at a bunch of threads on the forum which has lead me to believe that my problem is the cooling fan.

Some posts make it sound easy to change out the fan. Looking at some of the videos on YouTube makes it seem doable for except for the problem of getting at things underneath the car. All I have is the driveway, no ramps. lifts, etc. If I have to get underneath to do the project then I guess it's off to the shop for the mechanic to do. So I guess my one question is - Can I get to the bottom bolts on the fan with the car in the driveway? And, if I can, can I get to the bolts on the side from the top?

If you're still reading this and following along, let me throw something else in. What about the two relays on the top? Could either one or both of these be the problem and not the fan? I don't know what their function is. They certainly would be easier to get out than changing the fan.

Any insight or suggestions into my potential project would be appreciated.

Yes, one is the Low & the other is High.
First thing you want to do is check if the fan is coming on at all...turn on the A/C & check to see if the fan is running, turn off A/C & let car idle to it gets to the 1/2 mark of the temp gauge (about 200*).
If 1 speed is working & the other is not, swap relays...repeat process to see if anything changed.

EDIT: I check today & according to my UltraGauge...my fan comes on at 208*.

[ptcruisersteve]

I find that the radiator fan seems to have an average life of 70,000 miles of driving depending on how much you use the air conditioning. My wife uses her air conditioning all the time and her radiator fan failed at 69,000 miles. Mine has 79,000 miles on it and it still has the original radiator fan but I only use the air conditioning in the summer time. If you do buy a new radiator fan make sure you check the plug on it before unwrapping to make it has the right number of pins and also make sure all the contacts are installed correctly. The first one I got had bad contacts on the connector so I just took the connector off of my old one and put it on the new radiator fan. Been working just fine.

[Shiniquiet]

Ok, so I decided to bit the bullet and go the mechanic which I did earlier today. Told him what was going on the AC and then, so he wouldn't think I was an idiot, went into the whole low side high side fan thing. He was very patient and when I was done suggested that maybe the refrigerant was low. Dah, I never even thought of that! Hung my head and made an appointment for Wednesday.

Is there any validity in his suggestion? How does the cruiser behave when refrigerant is low?

Anyway, he has my hopes up since I would suspect putting in a little refrigerant is less expensive that replacing the fan.

[pasadenahotrod03Dreamer]

The only reason an A/C system needs refrigerant is because of a leak in a line, compressor seal, bad o-ring, leaking pressure switch or other part failure. Adding "freon" is simply postponing the inevitable search and repair of the leak.

[Shiniquiet]

Update
Finally got the Cruiser to the mechanic. He had it all day. Ran all kind of tests and didn't find anything. Took it for several rides and everything seemed to work. He couldn't seem to get it to do what I was describing. He ended up giving the throttle body a good cleaning. It does now run better but I'm not sure it's blowing as cold of air as it should. I 'll run it for a few days and see what happens. I'm still not convinced that it's not the fan.

[JoeX]

Low freon will result in the compressor cycling more often. Sometimes overlooked are the ports leaking, mine was the low side port.
The cap is nothing more than a dust cover.

[Shiniquiet]

Finally got to someone who seemed to know what he was doing. And, what did he do? Replaced the fan. That seesm to have done the trick.