Chevy & GMC Vans

After reading all the replies I have decided to change the radiator. I checked the rotation of the water pump. From standing in front of the van, it is turning counter clockwise. The specs on the water pump states it rotates counter clockwise. I think I am good there. Everything else checks out OK. The only thing I have done different is the radiator. I am going with the stock HD from autozone. Does anyone have a part number? Iam going to leave the engine driven fan for now and see how it does. I am open for any other suggestions.

Thanks Jerry

If you're sure that the fan on there is also a ccw rotation unit, then I guess you've checked everything else. Tell me, did you set your heater control to hot and put the fan on when filling your rad up with coolant? Reason I ask is because I myself keep forgetting to do that on my truck. Maybe due to the set-up of my hoses, I know I can sometimes trap air in the system. You have nothing to lose, try it (on a cold engine, evidently). Start her up with the heater set to hot. As she warms up, feel the top rad hose. When it gets hot (stat opened), squeeze it a coupla times. Also check that none of your hoses are higher than the top of your rad inlet. Otherwise, you can get trapped air. If you ever look at the set-up on an LS1, they go thru hoops to get rid of an iar pocket due to the reasons I just gave you.

iar pocket

Peter is that one of those French words again?

Also can you come up with a fan shroud? If you need a stocker fan I think I still have the one from my van.

Ahhhhhh, shaddup!!

Ahhhhhh, shaddup!!

It's good to see you have no problem finding the "H" key.

Speaking of smiley's, now would be good to have the poke smiley!

secrist wrote:After reading all the replies I have decided to change the radiator. I checked the rotation of the water pump. From standing in front of the van, it is turning counter clockwise. The specs on the water pump states it rotates counter clockwise. I think I am good there. Everything else checks out OK. The only thing I have done different is the radiator. I am going with the stock HD from autozone. Does anyone have a part number? Iam going to leave the engine driven fan for now and see how it does. I am open for any other suggestions.

Thanks Jerry

I found that the stock V6 rads will cool my V8 engines...barely. When I used the thicker HD stock rad it helped cool the engine a bit better when I was towing. I believe that the best solution is to install a wider rad out of Chevy pickup trucks. They are the same height but wider. One has to clear a bit of room for it to fit and move the lower rad mounts outboard a couple of inches. Good luck with your V8!

secrist wrote:After reading all the replies I have decided to change the radiator. I checked the rotation of the water pump. From standing in front of the van, it is turning counter clockwise. The specs on the water pump states it rotates counter clockwise. I think I am good there. Everything else checks out OK. The only thing I have done different is the radiator. I am going with the stock HD from autozone. Does anyone have a part number? Iam going to leave the engine driven fan for now and see how it does. I am open for any other suggestions.

Thanks Jerry

When using cw and ccw, wouldn't the proper orientation be facing forward; meaning the opposite if looking at the engine from under the hood? Kind of like the left side is the driver's side, even though it is your right when looking under the hood. I'm guessing here...anyone know?

Right and left, as in sitting in the drivers seat.

The correct direction, and orientation of the parts you have listed is counter clockwise as viewed from the front of the van, looking down into the engine bay.

No shroud is your biggest problem. With no direction for the air to be guided, the air swirls around in the voids on each side of the fan, doing NO cooling whatsoever. I pulled a 35 foot travel trailer for 120 miles on a 95+ degree day with my 2 core radiator, and never saw a rise above 210 driving up long, uphill grades.

I suggested a Ford Taurus radiator, and you can get them from any pick N pull for $30 or less. They are 2 speed fans, with a complete shroud that covers 99% of the radiatiors cooling fins, directing ALL of the air in a useable direction. Auto Zones' finest radiator is a 3 row heat buster, modine is the manufacturer. Most likely the same one you have.

No engine driven fan gives you a bit more power, and I guarantee that on high, that fan could lift the front end of your van off the ground if mounted horizontally. They are also nicely caged so that no fingers can get chopped off, and have a nice clearance for the front side so there is no chance of chewing up your radiator.

Shroud, shroud, shroud. Cheap, simple, very effective. Triple confirm that your Stewart pump turns the same way as the stock van pump. I too bought a Stewart high flow pump that was the correct application for the truck my motor came from. The pump turned the wrong way! Get the parts store to compare the listing for the stock pump rotation and the Stewart you bought. Your symptoms sound exactly like mine way back when. Good luck.

The Stewart pump is so efficient that it will almost cool the engine in reverse! Did the smae thing on my S-10 small block a while back. The radiator was the culprit on mine, but the Stewart pump almost overcame that! They're great!

I agree with checking all that has been mentioned. The shroud is the main deal,,got to have one.

When driving the van watching the gauge, I can tell when the thermostat opens(right at 180). It will stay there for about 10 mins of continuous driving and will slowlly increase until it hits about 205. It stays fairly constant at 205.

Another thing you might try is going to a higher stat. On some blocks and cooling sytem set ups the 180* is to low. What happens when all parts are in play and it's marginal,,the 180* will open when it reaches 180* but never close again while running. This means you have a continous flow, high vol. pump moving coolant which never has time to be cooled because stat doesn't close. The stat. needs to close to cool down before moving to block again. I'd change stat and install shroud and you should be good to go. You might also check for air in cooling sytem.

Sounds like you have a simmilar setup to mine. I run a 4 core rad and have yet to see the temp guage go more than 1/3 of the way across the scale. Once I get the trans done so I feel comfortable towing heavy loads I'll see if it (the guage) moves. IF not, I may go to a higher temp 'stat. Here in southern La. I'm driving in 90+ temps and carry about 800lbs normal load.
I have no shroud. I guess the "shroud trimming" thing works for some, but it didn't for me, by the time I was done "trimming" I had NO shroud left. So it has to be the Stewart WP/4 core rad. combo that's working.
Good luck!

I have used that tauras fan on one of my v8 s10's(stock tbi 350 5 speed)it didnt work!!!!! just giving you the heads up.Thats the main reason i quit doing v8 s10's ,just can't keep em cool.I dont see how these vane are a problam with cooling.You have a enough room up there in front for a 18 wheeler fan....

Any up dates on your cooling problem secrist ?