radiator fan , its broke

kramer · Jan 28, 2013

yeah so one day im drivin through town , it was kinda hot outside but not very and out of the corner of my eye i see the temp gauge almost all the way over in the red ,so i pull over immediatly , and just happened to pull right infront of a mechanics shop , so they looked it over and i looked it over and found that the radiator fan wasnt kicking on even though the gauge was maxed out , so i limped it over to autozone and since i couldnt figure out what was wrong on the spot and had a long ways to drive i just wired the radiator to the battery via toggle switch and drove home , and its still like that , so i got a few questions along with , does anyone know whats wrong ?

is it safe to always have the fan on ?
is it possible to wire the fan wrong to make it spin the wrong way?
could it have failed because of the connector to the fan being lose because of the clips being broken because they were?

sometimes it does still get really hot for a while and then shortly cool down , especially when driving under 45 why would it do that?

dgoggans7972 · Jan 28, 2013

kramer said:
yeah so one day im drivin through town , it was kinda hot outside but not very and out of the corner of my eye i see the temp gauge almost all the way over in the red ,so i pull over immediatly , and just happened to pull right infront of a mechanics shop , so they looked it over and i looked it over and found that the radiator fan wasnt kicking on even though the gauge was maxed out , so i limped it over to autozone and since i couldnt figure out what was wrong on the spot and had a long ways to drive i just wired the radiator to the battery via toggle switch and drove home , and its still like that , so i got a few questions along with , does anyone know whats wrong ?

is it safe to always have the fan on ?
is it possible to wire the fan wrong to make it spin the wrong way?
could it have failed because of the connector to the fan being lose because of the clips being broken because they were?

sometimes it does still get really hot for a while and then shortly cool down , especially when driving under 45 why would it do that?

dgoggans7972 · Jan 28, 2013

a loose connector will definitely do it..i would make sure the connector is snapped tight...if not replace it or repair it... also check your fuses and relays... i don't know for sure on that fan, as mine haven't had fan problems, but you can wire most fans to run backwards if you have it straight wired.....................................also.. have you replaced your thermostat.??.. that's an easy $4 fix that will put your mind at ease...i recently took one out of my dad's F150 that was probably 24 yrs old..

kramer · Jan 29, 2013

well its wired straight to the battery now , the connector just dangles to the side not plugged up to nothin , so im thinkin fuse or relay , the fan works fine although it may be blowing backwards , i have it blowing air towards the engine , is this right? and yes i have replaced the thermostat and even popped a little hole in it up top so air can breathe through it the main thing i wanna know is if its safe to run thee fan all the time the reason i ask is cause when the thermostat opens up will it or wont it be pushing really cold water into a hot engine , cant that warp things ? i was always told to never put cold water in your radiator when the engine is running and is hot and thats kinda the same , i know the fan comes on and off for a reason , ford wouldnt spend all that cash if their wasnt right?

dgoggans7972 · Feb 10, 2013

blowing back towards the engine is correct... the fan actually pulls cold air across the radiator into the engine compartment... that's how it cools..
as far as coolant... nothing wrong with water , but i try to use as much 100% antifreeze as possible.. the way a ford is set up, you can just add the water or coolant to the overflow and let the system top off the radiator .. as it cools after running it, the system sucks coolant from the overflow and tops off the radiator.. if it's not doing that, then you might need a new rad cap.. there is a valve in the cap and if it isn't working properly, you might have a problem... as far as warping stuff, .. ford makes a pretty tough engine... i don't think you have to worry about coolant ... anyway, just add the coolant to the overflow tank and you won't have to worry about it...

Audio75 · Feb 18, 2013

kramer said:
yeah so one day im drivin through town , it was kinda hot outside but not very and out of the corner of my eye i see the temp gauge almost all the way over in the red ,so i pull over immediatly , and just happened to pull right infront of a mechanics shop , so they looked it over and i looked it over and found that the radiator fan wasnt kicking on even though the gauge was maxed out , so i limped it over to autozone and since i couldnt figure out what was wrong on the spot and had a long ways to drive i just wired the radiator to the battery via toggle switch and drove home , and its still like that , so i got a few questions along with , does anyone know whats wrong ?

is it safe to always have the fan on ?
is it possible to wire the fan wrong to make it spin the wrong way?
could it have failed because of the connector to the fan being lose because of the clips being broken because they were?

sometimes it does still get really hot for a while and then shortly cool down , especially when driving under 45 why would it do that?

As said by another user, if the thermostat isn't working, it won't send power to the connector thus not spinning the fan. You would use a multimeter to check for voltage at the connector. Basically let the engine idle for 10mins with your heater on full hot, full speed. It should trigger your fan, and when it does you'd see the voltage spike in your multimeter.

The clips, yes naturally a loose connection be the problem however, I broke the clips on mine whilst replacing the motor recently, and I felt the connector was snug without the safety clip holding it. That said, mine has given me no trouble yet.

The engine would get minimal cooling from natural air flow, perhaps enough air to register on your temperature gauge. Also possible though is that the gauge could be flaky, they're not premium gauges after all.

radiator fan , its broke

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