linkovich

Hi, I'm a new z driver and don't know a whole lot about cars, mostly the basics and decently handy in fixing things (have done some semi-big repairs on a motorcycle). I just never got into cars until now (having a z car has increased my interest!!).

The plastic vents/ducts/whatever they're called have a fan that blows on the engine after you turn off the car (I'm assuming to cool the engine down properly but not sure). Well when I bought the car, it was working, but now it's stopped. I can't seem to find it anywhere in manuals or info about it because I don't know what it's called.

Is it hard to fix? And is it super necessary to fix asap or how long can it go without it? I'm asking because I'm about to go on a trip for the holidays and don't want to screw something up, but I don't have time to take it in to get it fixed!

Please go easy on the noob, I really want to learn about cars!

zxguy1986

Welcome to ZDriver!

I'll be brave and tell you that anything and everything on your Z can be fixed. It's just a pretty complex machine put together by humans for other humans. If you are a human - and it is a Z - it can be fixed.

Hard to know which Z you are talking about. So, do everyone a favor. Sign in, go to User CP menu (upper left), click Edit Signature and add your Z model, year, shifter, turbo or NA, etc. Saves you from having to add it to every post. (Guys here go crazy if you don't lock your Qs to your specific Z every time you post...They just ignore questions without enough info) Then click Edit Avatar and you can add a little Z pic under your nick. Cool? You are solid here.

(To post photos, sign in, click Post Reply, write your reply, click on the little paper clip to the right of the smiley face just above the text box, locate (browse) your photos, click on them, they list, click Upload, click Close This Window, click Submit. Easy enough?)

Weird... but I am not aware of any fan that keeps running on my Z31s after I turn the key off. This is interesting. (Maybe I'm missing something) So give us the info we need and we'll be happy to help. If you can post photos of the parts in question, even better. Plus: photos of your beautiful Z!

Thanks and welcome again.

linkovich

Thanks zxguy1986! Done and done on uploading pics and signature and all. I thought this thing I'm talking about was on all z31's, but yeah probably not.

Here is a picture of the fan....not a picture of MINE, but found one online quickly. I wish my engine was that clean! :P I added a red arrow pointing at it.

The fan used to run for about 20 mins after the car shut off. I asked the guy I bought it from after the test drive what was running, and he said something like "oh those are usually broken on these cars, but this one works, it's a fan that cools the engine down and runs after it shuts down." <--- quote from poor memory. I'm not entirely sure if the guy was full of crap or not.

As a side note, I didn't think about this until now, is that just after I first bought it, it was overheating after a longer drive and soon after it got a pinhole leak in a radiator hose. After I got that fixed, I don't recall if that fan was still running after I shut down the car..I think it was though... again I don't know anything about what that fan does, but maybe it's for overheating only? Just a thought, but I will shut up now to not feel totally stupid if this thing is something entirely different. :P

zxguy1986

That foto is a blast! The guy plastic-coated the fan shroud and his hoses too! WTF... I would like to see his house - I bet his bedroom floor has never seen a pair of underwear on it - or a sock not still wrapped around a foot! Weird. He has five of those Roomba vacuum sweepers running around his house 24/7! His cat rides them around.

I am confused. Your red arrow is pointing at sort of duct thingy that may or may not be/have a fan... I think it looks like it would protect something running over the valve cover... not sure what. Somebody here will know. Can't be an air supply because it's open-ended.(?) Or was it supposed to just blow air up there, way above the head and block? Just weird. That wouldn't cool anything important, I guess.

I have owned (3) '86 Z31s and not one of them ever had a fan that ran after the key was turned off. As long as you are running it at temp, no need. For my '86 turbo, I was told it's OK to let it idle for 2-3 mins before turning it off IF I drove it to that parking spot using the turbocharger on the way. Rarely happened. Never overheated either.

Posted photos of my '86na and my '86T. (I didn't plastic-shine the hoses so forgive me. I'll do it tomorrow.) No such air thingy in sight. Maybe a CA requirement? Your guess - but I seriously doubt that you need it to 'work' any more. Your Z should be just fine without it.

Nissanfan92

Mine has a fan that kicks on somtimes to I've manley seen kick on in the summer time when its really hot out but other than that it normally don't kick on after I shut it off

zxguy1986

Wow. Can you post a photo of it on yours? I wonder how Nissan decided which Zs got it and which didn't. I can't locate it anywhere in the FSM either.

86tcoupe

Injector cooling fan for hot soak conditions in the south . ever been to Dallas in July ,august ?
for vapor lock problems after start up usually
it would run for 5 min. after engine reached 315 degrees

zxguy1986

Thanks, 86tcoupe. It's supposed to cool the injectors. But, wow I'm impressed. 315 degrees sounds like oil-cooking temp, not to mention coolant/radiator explosion time. So Linkovich should be OK in CA if he stays out of Death Valley in the summertime? Or he could get the thing fixed. Give him your best advice, you hot-climate pros... (I'm also impressed that Nissan thought about this and made a special mod for it after the FSM was printed! WTG, Nissan)

linkovich

Great, sounds like we've solved it, thanks to everyone who replied. I guess that makes more sense why the guy said he's seen a lot of those that don't even work on z cars....or he hasn't been anywhere to see them working :P

So I'm sure it's just not going on because of the cool weather and hopefully because I got the overheating issue taken care of! I'll maybe chime back in later if I ever have it go on again and say what temperature it was outside. I'm going to be driving to southern california this week and it's supposed to get to 80 degrees out, so we'll see what happens. Yes, 80 degrees for everyone who lives outside of California.

zxguy1986

OK, stop bragging, Link. (32 degs and snowing here ) So, are you going to fix it or let it slide? You never know when you might get stranded in the desert...

linkovich

I don't think it's broken, I think it just hasn't been kicking on because of reasons I mentioned.

86tcoupe

My bad ...215 ...of course ... I ain't used to this laptop.

The DSM once told me those blowers sold like hot cakes down there and by other owners (GM, Ford , toyo) trying to stop the vapor lock .

linkovich

UPDATE

So on my trip, the car did get hot and the fan did kick in, so it works and it's confirmed that it's a fan that turns on when the engine gets hot enough.

I also randomly found something in the manual while looking at electrical diagrams for something else, that said the fan is only supposed to be installed on turbo models, and mine is not a turbo. But it might also have been talking about a different fan all together.

Oh well, looks like this is confirmed and hopefully helpful to someone looking through here in the future since even the manual isn't clear what it is.