Pontiac Repair: 94 Pontaic Transport, smog test, radiator fan

Question
We are trying to figure out what would cause the radiator fan to not cool the radiator as we took it for a smog test to get tags on it because it is time to renew them and the smog guy told us that it is not passing one of the test at the speed.  He said that the bigger fan on it for the radiator isn't working and we checked the fuses and the fuses were good.  So, I would like to know what is the problem that we need to fix in order for it to work to cool the radiator so, it won't overheat and approximately what would the cost be to fix the problem so, it will pass the smog test.  Thank You very much for your time.  My husband doesn't know a whole lot about cars and he is not in any type of shape to even do the repairs. The vehicle is a 1994 Pontiac SV Transport 6 cylinders I believe and it is a automatic.

Answer
Hi Tina:

I'm not sure what the smaog test entales in your state but the fan running doesn't make much sence as to a reason for it to fail. If the engine doesn't over heat I woudn't think there is an issue. The older cars/trucks had 2 fans a small one and a big one depending on the applicatipon as to car/truck/engine combination the fans all work differently. usually the smaller fan will come on at lower temps and when the a/c is on and the second fan will not come on untill the enginetemp creeps up over 225 degrees running a smog test I'm not sure that that your van would even get close enough to those temps to turn the fan on so I don't see what the issue here is. If the van is not overheating and no check engine light on I'm not sure what the issue is. Also to tell you the truth the hotter an engine runs the more effecient they run so what is comming out of the tail pipe should be cleaner. I live in NY (up state) and we don't do a sniffer smog test up here Down state NY they do. So I'm not really sure why your van fialed. Sorry I can't really help you out with this but I did explain how the fan works. good luck :-)