Hi folks. A friend of mine has a 95 Montero. Believe it's a V6 w/ auto tranny. Extremely nice suv. He uses it only as a part time daily driver. He tells me since he's had it for the past 8 years or so, it will begin to run hot under the following primary condition. Driving in town, with the a/c on, from signal light to signal light the temp will begin to rise to the red or hot zone. I noticed the other day when he turned the key on to close his windows, an electric fan kicked on. I asked him about it and he told me he had a belt driven fan and the electric was, to the best of his knowledge, a factory auxiliary fan for the a/c. Cut to the chase.

I assume the belt driven fan sucks air in across the radiator.

The electric fan blows air out.

Seems to me you would have opposing fans creating basically a dead / no air zone?

Is his setup normal?

He replaced the radiator and water pump a couple of years ago with evidently no improvement.

Like I said, this is a very nice and incredibly clean Montero. Rides like an old Cadillac compared to my 89 Trooper.

Just curious as to what ya'lls thoughts are.

thanks,
shooter

On my 95, the belt driven fan sits behind the radiator and the electric fan sits in front. The belt fan pulls the air across the radiator and into the engine compartment. The electric fan pushes the air across the radiator then into the engine compartment. The air moves the same direction, from the front of the engine across the radiator then into the engine compartment.

Was the fan clutch replaced? Certainly check the fan clutch. The symptoms could be caused by a bad clutch. At highway speed the vehicle moves enough air for engine cooling. At stop and go or city driving, the fan must move the air. A bad fan clutch will not turn the fan fast enough to move the necessary volume of air. Similar to an automobile clutch. If it slips, the vehicle won't go. If a fan clutch slips, it won't move air.

Let the vehicle warm up to operating temp. Open the hood. Shut off the engine. The fan should stop almost immediately. If it continues to turn, it needs replaced.

You can also check by getting the vehicle up to operating temp and shutting the engine off. Open the hood. Try to turn the fan by hand. It should be very stiff. If it turns easily, the clutch needs replaced.

what about the thermostat? maybe not opening all the way? or radiator cap not holding pressure?

Thanks guys. I'll check it out with him. Regarding the electric fan, I don't know if it would be deflection of some air movement or what, however, it definitely blows some air forward and out the front. Your thermostat advisory reminded med of an Isuzu issue. There's a general thought that aftermarket thermostats for Isuzus do not open as far as the factory thermostat. Do Mitsubishis have this same issue?

thanks again.

not sure about the t-stats, but for the elec fan, most are dual polarity, so if you swap the +- wires, the fan blows in the opposite direction. you might want to check and see if someone wired yours up wrong. I would think the only deflection of air would be to the sides of the fan. if you put your hand in the middle (but not in it:)) I would think it should be pretty easy to tell which way the air is blowing.

Thanks Zark. I was wondering about the polarity itself. There's no telling who did what before he acquired the vehicle. As`stated earlier, I noticed the other day with the engine fully warmed and off, my friend turned the key on to close his driver side window. Upon key on, the electric fan kicked on. Based on that, I'll have him repeat the process (primary fan off), stick my hand on the engine side of the radiator and feel for air being blown in to the engine compartment. He'd be tickled pink to resolve this though it doesn't bother him to any great extent. Thanks again to all for the replies and I'll keep you posted on my findings.

thanks again,
shooter

Haven't attempted reversing polarity, however, observed the auxiliary fan in motion. The fan rotates clockwise as you observe it from standing in front facing the motor. Too tight to get my hand in there to feel for any air movement. Once again detected a decent volume of air blowing out and not sucking in. The blades appeared to be the same pitch as the primary fan which indicates to me the air should be getting sucked in through the radiator and not reverse. Hope to reverse polarity tomorrow.

Reversed polarity today and it reversed the direction of rotation. I'll post when the reverse is permanent and tested under ideal "hot" conditions.

If you can see the fan in motion then you should be able to tell which way it is going to blow air by the pitch of the blades. The leading edge of each blade should be further towards the front of the vehicle than the trailing edge for it to be moving air in the right direction. Unless there is evidence of the wiring having been messed with, I'd be surprised if the a/c fan is the problem.

Currently, the fan is as follows:

1. The fan rotates clockwise as viewed from the front of the grille.

2. At this rotation, the fan is sucking air from the radiator and blowing outward.

3. The leading edges of the blades are, approximately, at eight o'clock and the rear edges at 2 o'clock.

So, in a slow traffic situation (hot weather), with the auxiliary fan blowing out and the other fan sucking in, you don't feel that would be enough to move the temp gauge up appreciably? And once again, this happens only with the a/c on, slow "downtown" traffic, hot summer Alabama weather.

thanks,
shooter