The cooling fan just went out on my wife's 2003 Sunfire. I work at a Chevy dealer so I asked one of the service writers what it would cost and he told me about $300 bucks. The same thing happened to another car of mine and I did it myself but I was not able to change just the motor, I had to replace the whole assembly because the motor would not come out on its own. Does anyone know if just the fan motor can be replaced in the Sunfire or do I need to purchase the whole fan/motor assembly to fix the issue? Thanks
Why not just get a complete new aftermarket fan/motor unit from one of the eBay vendors for under $100? There are several listed now. I got one for my car and it fit and worked fine.
Because if I know the motor can come off separately I can get a new aftermarket motor from AutoZone for about $40 bucks and fix it right now without having to wait for shipping. If it doesn't come off separately I will probably do what you say because the whole assembly at AutoZone is about $200 bucks.
You can replace just the motor in them.
I actually swapped the motor from my 85 vert into my 99 when it died on me one day.
Another option besides aftermarket is going with the dual fans from an N body, that's what I ended up doing.
JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.
Do I need to take the entire assembly out to get to the motor or is there a way to remove the motor without taking the whole thing out?
The entire fan assembly has to come out to do it.
JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.
Weak... I've been reading the posts and it sounds like that is a pain to do. Guess I have no choice though...
It's not hard...just have patience. Don't forget that salvage yards have tons and tons of fans and they're usually dirt cheap. Make sure that you check your connections before you come to the conclusion that the motor is bad. Unplug the fan and put power/ground to the terminals (one for each, I mean.)
OK I did this this weekend so I thought I would post about my experience.
First off if you are looking down into your engine there is a 10mm bolt on the bottom left of the cooling fan. I was able to just get on the ground and reach up from the bottom and feel around for it. Once that bolt is loose you can wiggle the fan around. Again looking down into your engine on the right side of the fan is a stick like protrusion that is held in by a clip, you can either pop it out with a screwdriver or try to slide it out. There is a square piece towards that bottom that just slides onto a clip that just come loose on its own, nothing tough there.
Here is the hard part: In probably one of the biggest design flaws ever, the top of the of the fan is held on by a grapple like hook that hangs over the top part of the radiator. The problem is there is not enough clearance to get it off. I tried for damn near an hour and never could get it to come loose, in fact I ended up breaking the fan casing trying to pry it loose. I took off 2 bolts from the top of the radiator that connected a peice that held the hood latch in place and it granted me a little access to the grapple. Since I broke it anyway I took a hacksaw and cut peice off. I still had issues but eventually got it loose and pulled it out through the bottom of the car.
What a nightmare! I did not see a way to get the motor loose from the fan as other as previously posted it was possible to do so I went to the auto parts store to see how much the assembly was going to cost. About $170 bucks so I am trying to find one at a junkyard now because I don't have that kind of money. The fan wasn't working anyway so I am just carefully driving now being sure not to idle for too long.
If anyone has any advice on how to reinstall this fan once I get one that would be great, because if it is half as difficult to install as it was to remove, then I am in trouble for sure...
Getting it out can be a pain I found jacking the car up made it much easier.
As for the fan there are 3 bolts holding the motor to the frame. Can you get me some pictures? I can walk you thru it. Or if you can wait I hopefully will be putting my dual fans in this week some time and can take pictures.
JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.
Jacking it up definitely made it easier to pull the fan out through the bottom, but did not help in getting the fan loose from the radiator. Don't worry about walking me through replacing the motor, I had to destroy the fan to get it out! There is no point in trying to replace the motor now, I need the whole assembly. If you could walk me through getting that damn grapple clip thing back in place, that would be a big help because there was no clearance to get it out, so I don't know how I am going to get one back in!
Did you loosen the two bolt holding in the upper rad tabs?
Loosening them up makes it a breeze getting in and out.
JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.
I did loosen some bolts but I am not sure if they are the same one. There is a plastic cover piece at the front of the car under the hood that is attached by some plastic screw/clip things that has a bunch of stickers and diagrams on it. I took that off and there there is a metal piece underneath with 2 bolts on it. Attached to this metal piece is the hood latch and some other pipes, ect behind the front grill. I took those bolts off and was able to pry it back a little which gave me access to the back of the grapple holding the fan to the radiator. I took a screw driver and pried it up and though for sure it would pop loose from the radiator but it would not. After about an hour of trying and eventually breaking the fan, that is when I decided to just get the hack saw in that little opening and cut the grapple off. Only then was I able to get the thing loose. If that is what you are talking about then yes I tried that, if not, then please explain because any help would be appreciated!
no you took the hood latch assembly and all that off.
What your looking for are two bolts one by each headlight they go thru slots in the rad support under them are mounting bracket tabs. Those tabs hold the radiator. So you take those too bolts out and you can move the radiator around, making it much much easier.
JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.
Hmm, so if I take those bolts out it will loosen the radiator enough to let me get that clip off? Loosening the radiator won't cause anything else like hoses or anything to come loose will it?
You'll be fine its just the upper support it will still be sitting on its lower mount still.
Just be sure not to drop those two bolts or brackets they can be a pain to find again lol.
JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.
I'll try it. I just found the fan assembly at NAPA auto parts online for $88 bucks which is is way less than anywhere else. As soon as I get paid I'll get it and do as you said. I'll let you know how it works out.
i got the one for my brothers car for $55 on ebay with shipping, that was a year ago and it still works fine
Got my N-body dual fans for $60 from Morad parts.
JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.
