84 turbo fan not working.

bdub_mkg

Member
Jan 29, 2026
9
3
13
Michigan
Howdy everyone. This summer i picked up an 84 turbo 2.3 all original other than a bad paint touch up on the hood.
This summer we did a cruise in and the car started getting hot. Too hot for my comfort. Diagnosed it to two potential problems, the sending unit and the relay box under the dash. The plastic clip was melted so that was replaced but still not kicking on.

Is the relay box a generic one that I can get off ebay or do I have to find one with the same code thats on mine now.

Ive only needed the fan to work once since ive had it, and that was during this cruise while I was in traffic. That said, is it worth it to get the new relay box or just bypass it with a standalone relay kit that would come on around 180 or so?
 

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Have you verified the wiring is good? So you are getting 12V+ to the relay and that the wire going to the fan is good? Have you verified that the fan itself is good? The connector got hot for some reason.
 
Have you verified the wiring is good? So you are getting 12V+ to the relay and that the wire going to the fan is good? Have you verified that the fan itself is good? The connector got hot for some reason.
Yup. ran power directly to the fan and it kicks on. Wiring looks good, no frays or exposed wires. 12v going to the relay. My thinking is the fan is getting old and causing a spike in resistance when starting up which may have caused the issue.

I have two thoughts with fixing this: 1, replace with a standalone unit. 2: replace the fan, get a new control relay and see how it goes. that said, I'm not a fan of how hot it gets before the fan kicks on. from what I've found, it kicks on in the 190's, right before it overheats. I'm wondering if i can replace the factory temp sending unit with one that kicks on a little lower to keep me covered a little better. Seeing that it's a ground activated switch, i can't find a reason why it wouldn't work.
 
I ran the contour fans and the dakota digital controller in my 69. Worked great but want to keep this as original as possible. 95% of the time the temp never climbs enough to even need to kick on the fans as the motor runs pretty cool. But then there's that other 5 that I need to get it figured out