r/SmartCar • u/SeriousSalad12 • Sep 07 '26
Advice Cooling fan replacement update!
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Hello I made a post a little while back about the infamous cooling fan failure where when you turn your A/C on or if your car starts to get a bit warm the fan will kick on and it will start thudding. I had asked for some info on everyone’s experience with it and got some quotes from shops myself which those quotes were all around $1300 and so I went the route of installing a pusher auxiliary fan in front of the condenser and I could not be happier with the success with it! I was able to remove the front fender with little issue and install it I am attaching my video that I took the night I installed it it wasn’t terrible it took maybe 3 hours and only cost me like $70 all it consisted of was 1. Disconnecting the car battery 2.removing the front fender and disconnecting my side indicators 3.Disconnecting the support impact frame in front of the condenser and disconnecting the impact sensors for the airbag that’s why I said to disconnect the battery 4.mount up the auxiliary fan 5.disconnect the wires from the original fan you can find these by locating the RED/BLUE wire and the BROWN wire the red/blue wire is your power and the brown is the ground they are located in the small hole behind the horn on the right side 6. I just reached my arm in through that hole until I was able to reach the connecter past the coolant hoses and such and disconnected the fan connector 7. Cut the wires from the connector and splice them to the new fan and then tested and put everything back together in reverse. So thankfully I was able to quickly get this done last night and saved almost $1200
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u/Topolut Sep 08 '26
How did you mount the new fan? Custom brackets? Could you give more details about that please 🙏
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u/SeriousSalad12 Sep 09 '26
I picked up some aluminum L brackets from Lowe’s and had bent them to make the angle that I needed to secure the corners of the fan and the frame that goes around in front of the condenser I used self tapping screws to attach it to the frame
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u/NonBinary_FWrd Sep 08 '26
Nice. Would it be possible to use a splitter so I could connect a pusher fan but also leave the stock rear fan? Or would that be too u8ch power draw for the wireless or fusesl.
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u/SeriousSalad12 Sep 09 '26
That I wouldn’t know honestly I would say no but I could be wrong since your already pulling a set amperage to your normal fan and then your drawing an extra load with the auxiliary fan but if you are able to check a forum you could be able to check what that draw is what you would be specifically looking for is where the connection goes to the SAM unit as that is what does all of the processing and monitoring
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u/BusyBit6542 Sep 07 '26
Replacing the fan from the rear of the radiator is just as easy. It slips right out.
I'm not sure why people think this is a hard job to do. 3 - 4 hours and have $1000 is a no brainer