Cooling Fan

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randerson165

Senior Member
My engine overheats and I'm always dumping more water into my radiator. Is there a way to check for leakage from my radiator and is there a way to test my cooling fan. It seems that I can remember it turning on every now and then and now that my engine gets hot, its never on !!! Does that fan help the cooling ? could I switch my cooling fan with the a/c (condensor) fan ?
 
Try changing the fuse to the cooling fan before doing anything else. The same thing happened to me and I replaced the fan motor and found out it was just the damn fuse.

Peace*
 
The fuse looks good and the I switched the relay with the a/c relay and it still didn't come on !!! Is there a way to bypass and just see if it will turn on ?
 
No, I did your sister first.lol. Hey bud, if u wanna bypass all the craps to see if your fan motor is working, it's very simple. Disconnect the 2 pins fan connector and jump the 2 wires to 1 negative battery usually BLK for ground and the other 1 to positive battery usually BLK/RED. That should determine if the motor works or not. If the fan does come on, check these other components like the radiator fan relay, 20A fuse, and try bleeding the head, some motor has a bleeder screw on the left side of the head. No you cannot switch your A/C fan for radiator fan due to mounting and configurations to say the least and yes the radiator does cool the engine down. Let us know how that works for you and we'll go on from there if your problem still persists. Good luck!
 
I bypassed everything and the fan turns just fine. Explain this bleeding thing a little more to me. I switched the relay from the A/C and it still didn't turn on. How do I know if the wires went bad ? Am I going to have to take this thing to a dealer to fix ?
 
Originally posted by randerson165@Jun 22 2003, 08:06 PM
I bypassed everything and the fan turns just fine. Explain this bleeding thing a little more to me. I switched the relay from the A/C and it still didn't turn on. How do I know if the wires went bad ? Am I going to have to take this thing to a dealer to fix ?

check all your grounds...it's the easiest thing to fix but the hardest to identify...if all else fails...just hard wires it to a switch inside the car
 
Okay good, now you've identified that the fan motor still works, we can go on to the next step. Do not take your car to the dealer just yet. Your next step is is to make sure that your thermostat opens at the right temperature. After your coolant gauge shows about half way, feel the upper radiator hose to see if you got any pressure. This sometimes lets u know that the t-stat is opening up like it should. That's the lazy way. If it does work, then u need to look into your ECT sensor usually located by the thermostat housing. Here's a brief explanation of how it works; when your engine temperature gets to a certain temp. the t-stat opens to allow for cold coolant to circulate. At this time, the ECT sensor senses the temp off the engine and triggers a signal to the fan relay and turns it on to help the cooling. The bleeding, some vehicle have a bleeder screw around the same area as the t-stat. This allow you to bleed any trapped air in your engine from accumulating and causes abnormal heating that u don't need. In the case where u have trapped air, your t-stat will never open thus not allowing your fan to come on. If u do have a bleeder screw, loosen it (do not remove) while the engine is idling and allow for unnecessary to exit. You'll know you're good once you see pure coolant flowing through, then tighten it back up. To test your ECT switch and wiring, remove the 2 pins connector and test for battery voltage between the GRN wire and body ground. You should have battery voltage. Turn off the ignition and check for continuity in the BLK wire between the ECT switch and body ground. You should have continuity and while doing this, check the temp. gauge to see if it reads above or below normal, if it reads above normal, then replace your ECT switch. Hope this helps! There's also a way to check for fan relay also. I'm not quite sure if the relays for the AC is compatible. Let me know if u need the instructions.
 
Great, thanks for all your help. I'm going to replace my head next weekend and I will try to diagnose and fix all my problems. I had a bum friend work on my car and I now have to replace the head and all the problems I'm experiencing. I'll let you know. Thanks
 
I found out it was the ECT switch on the thermostat housing. I just have it bypassed right now so whenever my car is running, my fan is running. Is it bad for my fan to be running all the time ? Besides wearing out the fan sooner ?
 
Great! I'm glad you've solved the problem. Isn't that easier and cheaper to replace the whole head? I couldn't understand why you were gonna do that when the problem was so minor to figure out. To answer your question, yes! it is bad to have your fan running all the time. It robs horsepower and increase in engine compartment noise. I would just rather change the sensor and get it overwith. Good luck.
 
(well your at it replace the tstat for 15 bucks it will save a head when it fails shortly down the road)

You're right hcivic.com. F@%K it go ahead and change the radiator cap too since we save you all that money by not taking it to the dealer and having your head replace. Hey any chance for a 6 pack of Heineken randerson165? btw, how do I quote someone like I did on top using one of these features?
 
no the tstates are none to fail when taxd for long periods of time ie an overheating allways being open its a cheap and esay part to replace so why not



the quote button is in the upper right hander corner of the post
 
Originally posted by hcivic.com@Jun 25 2003, 11:49 PM
no the tstates are none to fail when taxd for long periods of time ie an overheating allways being open its a cheap and esay part to replace so why not



the quote button is in the upper right hander corner of the post

Thanks for the tip hcivic.com, notice I wasn't objecting to your suggestion. BTW, am I still good for a 6 pack of Henie's randerson165?
 
My head is warped and I'm putting a new head on there. I wasn't going to replace the head becuz of the cooling fan problem. LOL, I probably should have explained that a little better.

Did somebody say "6-Pack" ??? :beer:
 
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