overheat, fan won't turn on

[spock2001us]

Had a heat issue for a couple of years now when running the A/C....sooo, when running the A/C if it was getting too hot I would just turn it off and things were fine...I just live with it.

Now, the radiator fan won't turn on at all. How do I tell if it is the fan motor or a switch or relay that is blown up? I can replace the fan motor, but is there a way to check before replacing? Ran codes...nothing about fan. Running ignition on engine off code, I though it ran the fans before during test, but not now.

Checked all the plugs, nothing is fried...sprayed contact cleaner....still no fan turning on. Car running very hot that is for sure.

 

[HISSIN50]

The fan will cycle low and high speed at the beginning of code retrieval.

Check the cooling fan fuse in the underhood fusebox.

Here's a little tech note for testing the fan relays

The fan connector has been an issue, as has been the circuit breaker that was sometimes retrofitted to the fan's wiring harness.

If you really think it's the fan motor itself and you don't want to test the wiring, you can bench test the fan motor by running your own harness to the fan motor from the battery. Use a fused on the positive motor-terminal connection.

 

[spock2001us]

Thanks Hissin, the fan is only $60 from Autozone, so I am going to pick one up. Over the last few weeks I seem to recall the fan was squeeling a bit, so I am thinking it finally gave out. If that is not it, then I will look into the connector.

 

[HISSIN50]

60 bucks is a little cheap for a fan - that's probably the price for a fan motor. And swapping fan motors can go quickly or the old fan can break (if the output shaft seized to the blade).

For that reason, I might quickly bench test yours. It takes all of 1 minute to connect the jumper wires and do it. Or you can even ground CCRM Pin 17 and see how it sounds (this will turn high speed on).

Good luck.

 

[spock2001us]

Thanks again. Last night I picked up a fan "motor" from Autozone for $60. The guy wanted $70, but I told him it was $59.99 on their website so they matched the price. I miswrote earlier when I said a fan was $60, meant to write fan motor.

Anyway, hardest part was getting the fan blade off the old motor. Used a file and wire brush to debur the rust from the old blade mount but it still would not budge. So, figuring I had no choice and fully prepared to have to order a fan assembly, I first used some WD-40, then used a hammer and a punch to drive the motor from the blade, of course I risked cracking the blade and fan housing. Holding the blade and housing on top of the bench with the motor hanging over the edge, fortunately, after only a few taps the motor seperated from the blade with ease and dropped onto the floor.

Installed the new motor, put it all back together and and using the code reader the fan tested both low and high speeds on the first try.

Upon warm up, fan works perfectly both low speed and high speed (using max A/C to test high speed) and I can now run my A/C with no overheat problems whatsoever (previously, running the A/C would cause the temp to rise and I had to monitor it and even shut off the A/C at times).

Cool, problem easily fixed for $60. BTW, at Advance Auto the same fan motor is priced online at $170 or so for the same brand motor. Each motor is new in the box and not a reman.