My brother has a 2006 G35 and lives in AZ. When at idle, you can hear the fans blowing pretty good, even with the windows up. However, when the temperature is similar where I live (90's and humid), I never hear my fans. My car doesn't overheat and the needle sits good, but are Maxima fans super quiet or what? Even at idle with the windows down I don't hear anything. Normal?

 

Mine are not quiet and can hear with Windows up at idle. Make sure your fans work and I don't see why it should be an issue.

Turn your a.c. On and the fans will kick in and you will know for sure what's normal for your car.

 

I let the car sit ad idle and turned the A/C on. The driver side fan came on, but not the passenger side. When I turned off the A/C, then fan shut off with it. I never let the car fully reach temp, but was really close. Either way, what are the circumstances to make the passenger side fan come on?

 

What year do you have? On a 5.5 gen, both fans kick on with the A/C. They run at low or high, depending on ambient temps and refrigerant pressures.

 

I have a 2002, so a 5.5 gen...

If only one fan is bad, what should I check for?

 

I just checked the fuses by the battery and they checked out. I can try seitching the relays around, but there are 3 that say "RAD FAN." Do you know which number the passenger side fan is?

 

Those fan motors can go bad. I've replaced them on both of my Maximas. It's very rare for a relay to fail. It should definitely come on with the AC. Without it, you'll start to see the AC get hot when you come to a stop and cool off when you start moving.

You can test the motor by hard wiring it with a hot and ground.

You can buy just one fan motor or the whole assembly. If the motor is cheaper it's easy enough to swap into the assembly.

 

Thanks, I just checked and the relays all work, so it is the motor that is burned out. Depending on how much the motor is, I might buy one for the driver side just to avoid issues later on.

 

Without the A.C. on the fan kicks on when the temp goes over 210degreesF.

​​​​obviously when your driving the oncoming air cools the antifreeze down under 200degrees

They only come on when your at a red ligh​​​​​​t.

 

I will only be getting the one motor as they are almost $40 a piece. I just sprayed the bolts holding the motor in as I have already snapped 3 bolts off on this car, don't need anymore lol.

 

On both my cars it's been the passenger side that failed. The other ones are still going strong. I've seen it on other cars too.

The AC fan gets a lot more use since it's on the entire time the AC is running regardless of engine temp. It also comes on to cool the engine with the other fan even without the AC.

I wouldn't worry about the other fan at all. In fact, I wouldn't be above pulling a drivers side fan from the U-pull it and using it for the passengers side. I think they used the same fan for several years on different cars.

 

There is no such thing as "the AC fan". The car has 2 fans and they serve dual purpose for the engine coolant as well as the a/c. Whenever the fans are supposed to run, BOTH fans will run.

When you have the a/c on, the fans will turn on immediately because that is a necessity of the a/c system - the refrigerant that comes out of the a/c compressor is hot and goes to the condenser coil where it is cooled.

If you ever see just one fan running, you have a problem and you should fix it. The 2 fans on the car are the same thing, so which side it is on makes no difference. All years of the 5th gen, 2000 through 2003, use the same fan. It is the same fan as the 4th gen, but Nissan played musical wires in the connector, so don't use a 4th gen fan. Don't know about the 6th gen fans.

 

You're right on all accounts. Not sure what I was thinking because I know you're right.
I guess I should refrain from morning posts until I've sobered up finished my 1st cup of coffee.

 

So I attempted to remove the fan assembly just to see what was all involved. Very easy with no issues, however I was less than pleased to find out I have to pull the upper radiator hose off. I despise coolant and will do anything to avoid working with it. How much comes out on a stone cold engine if I flip the hose upwards (so it will only drain from the radiator)? Will it be enough where I need to top off the system?

 

You wont lose much. you wont have to top off after. Just make sure you bend the hose up and keep it pointed up.

 

Both fan motors look like the same part#!
Id say the ECU/fan relay circuits controls the functions.
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I watched several videos, and in all of them their radiator just dumped out a bunch of coolant. When my radiator cap is removed, the coolant is at the very top, so I feel as if all that would drain out.

The coolant is the one thing stopping me from doing this repair lol.

 

It's really not much if you keep the hose pointed up. Even if it were you just top it off after.

If you really want to be clean you can drain some from the drain plug, catch it in a clean container and refill it when you're done.

 

Update:

Just installed the new fan motor. SUCCESS! Now the passenger side fan works properly.

If you're curious as to what I did for the coolant since I was so paranoid about it, I found an empty bottle, set that down in the engine bay, had a tin foil bridge going from the radiator to the bottle and caught all the coolant that came out. Maybe half the bottle came out, but I just poured it back in and it was good to go.

WARNING:
For anyone who is going to buy and use the TYC radiator fan motor on RockAuto, be prepared to have some washers on hand as it sits a little too far forward. I had some rubber spacers that fit perfectly. It still sits closer to the radiator than the other fan, but it's fine. Also, the plug is on about 8in of wire, so you will have to zip tie it off to the side so it does not get in the way.

Thanks for help guys!

 

Good to hear. Now you are one of the old pros.

 

Hahaha, I'm still learning with this car. One day I'll get to a point where I don't need to ask questions about everything lol.

 

Than you'll be answering them for someone else.

 

there are so many variables!!! Temperature outside, the moisture level, barometric pressure, how many rows the radiator is, what material the radiator is made of, the style, RPM, and amperage of the fans, the sound deadening in and on the firewall and interior etc etc

 

The motor was dead.

 

Thanks for the update, good heads up on how it will seat vs original motor. I just received the TYC fan motor from RockAuto and will be installing the next few days.

I'm REALLY looking forward to using my Maxima's AC... summer has sucked for the past few weeks!

 

Personally, I'd try and find rubber washers as they provide cushion and they're a little thicker so it will position the motor better.

Tell me about it! Driving to places and I'm sweaty when I get out of the car lol.