Freddie1088

Which way does the fan blow air on a 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass supreme Brougham? towards the motor? or towards the Radiator? Just wondering if my fan blade are backwards. Can someone please let me know thanks in advance

rustyroger

It should suck air through the radiator, therefore towards the motor. What makes you think the blades are the wrong way round?, Just about every automobile fan blows toward the motor.

Roger.

joe_padavano

Time for a little common sense. If you're driving, the motion of the car is pushing air towards the engine. If the fan isn't doing the same thing, it's fighting that airflow.

Allan R

Have to agree. The fan is stamped showing which side goes to the front.

JohnnyBs68S

Flipping the fan around won't make it push air towards the front, it will still pull air rearward though the radiator, just not as efficiently since the blades are "slapping" the air rearward instead of "scooping" it. For a fan to push the air forward, it would have to be a fan from an engine that spins the opposite direction of every longitudinally-mounted American-made engine that I've ever seen. And what drives that? I suspect because of the fact that the rear end has the ring gear on the left side (driver's side......as viewed from the rear of the car) of the drive-shaft, which requires the output shaft of the trans (and input from the engine) to be spinning clockwise as viewed from the front of the car to make the car move forward.

joe_padavano

Engines with reverse-rotation water pumps also have reverse-rotation fans and fan clutches. My 1999 truck has such a fan. Put that fan on an engine with a conventional rotation pump and it blows towards the radiator.

Yellowstatue

Some individuals will maintain their right to totally ignore that stamping and install the fan as they see fit, backwards.

joe_padavano

Which is another case of common sense being painfully uncommon.

Vintage Chief

I'll be the one who says it.

The term FRONT in & of itself is absolutely meaningless UNLESS a person knows with 100% certainty what FRONT orientation means.

(1) It's the FRONT of the fan. That means absolutely NOTHING other than it is the front of the fan;
(2) FRONT does absolutely nothing in terms of stating the orientation of the fan during assembly.

The OP is correct in asking which direction the fan should be oriented.

TOWARDS the FRONT of the engine?
TOWARDS the FRONT of the vehicle?
TOWARDS the BACK of the radiator?

I'll argue that it is not common sense. I have a FRONT lawn. That in & of itself is meaningless. I would argue looking towards the FRONT lawn of my house FROM the FRONT porch is FAR more meaningful than simply the FRONT lawn. Someone does not need to lack common sense to question what the term FRONT means on the fan. Either it should be stamped TOWARDS the RADIATOR or FRONT FACING RADIATOR. FRONT does NOT provide orientation.

How many times have I heard and read a person ask what is the right side of the car? What is the left side of the car? Is it the left as you face the car? Is it the right as you face the car? I suppose it's common sense to look up the fact that a position on a car is determined from the perspective of the driver's seat; but, I don't believe it is common sense to ASSUME the term FRONT stamped on a fan in and of itself has any meaning relative to engine and/or radiator orientation.

joe_padavano

Sorry, Norm, but I have to disagree. FRONT is always towards the front of the car, period. Right and left are always relative to the front of the car as well. In any case, what's stamped on the fan is irrelevant. The original question was which way does the fan blow? The answer is that it ALWAYS sucks air from the radiator and blows it towards the engine. To do anything else would be fighting the airflow from vehicle motion, which would be stupid. THAT'S the common sense part.

joe_padavano

Actually, let me make this even more "common sense". Airflow through the radiator will always be in the direction of the normal airflow that occurs when the car is moving. The fan just mimics that. If the radiator is in front of the engine, the fan will suck air through the radiator. If the radiator is behind the engine, the fan will blow air through the radiator. And again, I'm talking about an engine-mounted mechanical fan, not an electric pusher mounted in front of the radiator, for example. I'm also ignoring exotics with side mounted radiators and transverse, mid-engine powertrains.

Vintage Chief

I completely understand what you said and I understand the OP's questions - which was not a singular question but several. There are many (as evidenced by the OP) who do not know the orientation of fan blades with respect to the orientation of the engine (car). I'm simply saying what you and I and many who know as the proper orientation of the blades of a fan is not necessarily common sense to many people. And, I'd still have to argue the simple term FRONT on a fan has no meaning at all. FRONT means what? Facing the front of the car or facing the front of the engine? It isn't common sense to many is my argument. Hell, have you ever tried to convince an M.D. taking biochemistry the difference between levorotatory and dextrorotatory orientations of a molecule as simple as glucose. For F-Sakes, they stare at you like a blind pig when they hit the word enantiomer let alone the orientation of a molecule.

Vintage Chief

Of course what I consider to be common sense with regard to the polarization of light through a molecule relative to the x, y & z axes is not common sense to most M.D.s. I don't believe some know left from right.

Allan R

Maybe a good thing for the OP to look at would be to have someone bump the engine and he can watch which direction the fan is going so he can determine which way it needs to be orientated so it will flow air properly. With my engine running I can feel air being sucked into the grills toward the radiator. He might also try that if he's unsure. These are easy and simple ways to determine air flow. Doesn't need to be over analyzed.

joe_padavano

Vintage Chief

Good point.

Freddie1088

Thank you