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How to Diagnose an Engine Cooling Problem, and Common Causes of Engine Overheating

More power, bigger tires, larger axles…these are the types of upgrades that inspire thoughts of dominating at a racetrack, climbing the biggest obstacles off road or building the ultimate tow rig. Engine cooling system? Most people don’t pay attention to that until you have an engine cooling problem or straight-out engine overheating. To help you keep the cool in your cool car, truck or SUV, we have these tips for how to identify, prevent and cure some of the most common engine cooling issues.

3 Easy Ways to Prep Your Car or Truck for Summer Heat

Summer is nearly here, which means it’s time to get out there and have some fun with your hot rod, muscle car, 4x4 or truck! It can also mean overheating or living in fear of overheating if the cooling system isn’t up to the task. Fortunately, keeping your customized and hot-rodded vehicle cool isn’t too difficult. Here are three things you can do right now to make sure that you have fun in the summer sun!

How to Convert a Puller Electric Fan to a Pusher

Many Flex-a-lite electric fans can be reversed, so they can be used as either a pusher fan (an auxiliary fan mounted to the front of the radiator) or a puller fan (primary cooling fan, mounted behind the radiator). The process of reversing them is easy and straight-forward.

How to Troubleshoot Issues with a Flex-a-lite Variable Speed Controller (VSC)

With any advanced, multi-feature electronic device, there are opportunities for things to not always work correctly. The Flex-a-lite Variable Speed Controller (VSC) is our most advanced electric fan control module, and it has several features built in. The following video and guide will help you diagnose and troubleshoot issues if your electric fans are not functioning the way you think they should when using the VSC.

The Perfect Fan Shroud Position

If you’re running a belt-driven fan, there are a few things you need to do in order to maximize the engine cooling that the fan can provide. It’s critical that the fan be positioned properly within the fan shroud and that there is just enough clearance around the fan blades. The first thing we want to make sure is that you actually have a fan shroud. If you rely on a belt-driven fan for engine cooling, a fan shroud is a must to pull the air through the radiator. Without a shroud, air will take the path of least resistance, pulling air from over and under the radiator instead of through it.

Why We Require the Use of a Flex-a-lite Fan Spacer

Have you ever wondered why we require the use of a Flex-a-lite® spacer with our belt-driven fans? The answer is simple: we saw the damage other brand spacers were causing to the star of the belt-driven fan! We can easily tell when one of our Flex fan or other belt-driven fans has been used with one of these off-brand spacers; it will leave the imprint right in the star. In fact, we won't warranty damage done to one of our fans if another brand spacer is used.

How Radiator Cap Pressure Affects Cooling

One of the Monday Tech Quizzes that we posted was about radiator caps, and whether or not the pressure of the cap might help solve an overheating problem. As we tried to formulate a short answer for this question, we were reminded of how complicated the topic really is. So we decided a post on our blog would be the best way to provide useful information on the topic.