Radiator fan

[Starter986]

Originally Posted by piper6909

Did you pull the plug at the fan and check with a test light to see if there's power at any of the pins? I'd make sure I have power at the fan before buying another one.

I did not. Can you point me to the instructions for that procedure? Is that something that can be donw without removing the bumper cover or the wheel well plastic?

Thanks, Pipe.

[piper6909]

Originally Posted by Starter986

I did not. Can you point me to the instructions for that procedure? Is that something that can be donw without removing the bumper cover or the wheel well plastic?

Thanks, Pipe.

According to this video, you can get to it by removing the inner wheel well. You won't have to remove the bumper cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsPeDvJXEUs

In this video Burner's high speed was working, so he determined that he had a bad ballast resistor. In your case, if NO speed works after you jump the pins, it could be bad wiring or a connection or it could be the motor. But I'd check the wiring first.

Here's another link that shows you how to access the fans:
http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site_3/Replace_Radiator_Fan.html

Another fairly easy test is to see if the fan spins freely.

[Starter986]

Originally Posted by piper6909

According to this video, you can get to it by removing the inner wheel well. You won't have to remove the bumper cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsPeDvJXEUs

In this video Burner's high speed was working, so he determined that he had a bad ballast resistor. In your case, if NO speed works after you jump the pins, it could be bad wiring or a connection or it could be the motor. But I'd check the wiring first.

Here's another link that shows you how to access the fans:
Replace Radiator Fan

Another fairly easy test is to see if the fan spins freely.

Thank you, Pipe. That Burner vid is one of the vids I watched and recall my horror at the exactly one minute mark... when he begins strong arming out the unit. The closer arrives at 17:42 when after summing up with, "So that's it. That's the whole process" he hits with, "You put everything back in the way it came out".

While I was testing the relays... jumping... running car to temp... etc. I had a constant mental loop of that video and hoping that wasn't the route I would have to take.

Snuck my hand under... fan spins freely.

Tomorrow morning I'll lift that side... peel back the liner... see if I can't access the electrical connection... to which I'll run 12V... without having to take off a bunch of parts.

Have a nice evening.

[piper6909]

Originally Posted by Starter986

Thank you, Pipe. That Burner vid is one of the vids I watched and recall my horror at the exactly one minute mark... when he begins strong arming out the unit. The closer arrives at 17:42 when after summing up with, "So that's it. That's the whole process" he hits with, "You put everything back in the way it came out".

While I was testing the relays... jumping... running car to temp... etc. I had a constant mental loop of that video and hoping that wasn't the route I would have to take.

Snuck my hand under... fan spins freely.

Tomorrow morning I'll lift that side... peel back the liner... see if I can't access the electrical connection... to which I'll run 12V... without having to take off a bunch of parts.

Have a nice evening.

Yeah, I was horrified, too!

But if you can get to the plug, after you unplug it, jump the terminals at the relay sockets and use a test light to see if you have power at the plug. The plug has 3 pins, two are power (low and high) and one is ground.

You can also try, like you said, running 12 volts to the fan-side plug and see what happens. Keep in mind the black wire is the negative and the other two are where you'd connect positive. If for some reason there's no black wire, it's the only one going directly from the fan motor to the plug.


Here's what you can do if you want to jerry-rig it. (might work if you're in a bind, but not the way I'd do it):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrD52LDH0WI

Good luck!

[Starter986]

Connected 12v... ground... fan didn't run. From below gave the fan a few taps. The fan runs.

When I applied the hot wire to each of the two prongs (low speed prong/high speed prong) the fan ran only at what seems to be low speed.

So... I plugged the connector back to the fan... started the car... turned on AC... fan was running but not as strong as the passenger side. Checking the passenger side the fan seemed to be running on high. Car was cold start. It seems that the fan motor must have bound up... even though the blades freely I had spun.

From what I understand the resistor serves the low speed side of the fan... and because the fan is on low should I assume the resistor is good?

Since at the cold start the passenger side fan was running high... should I assume that that resistor is bad and defaulting to the high speed? That wouldn't make sense... but I defer.

Should I, with the car parked, run the engine until it reaches operating temperature... see if the driver side fan comes on? Yesterday I did that and after reaching operating temperature the passenger side high speed kicked in... but not the driver side.

I don't yet want to button back up the wheel shroud until I get this sorted. Are there any other tests that I should be performing? Or, do I button it back up and keep an eye on the driver side fan... and leave the passenger side fan running high?

Any input, direction, or guidance is appreciated. Thank you.

[piper6909]

Originally Posted by Starter986

Connected 12v... ground... fan didn't run. From below gave the fan a few taps. The fan runs.

When I applied the hot wire to each of the two prongs (low speed prong/high speed prong) the fan ran only at what seems to be low speed.

So... I plugged the connector back to the fan... started the car... turned on AC... fan was running but not as strong as the passenger side. Checking the passenger side the fan seemed to be running on high. Car was cold start. It seems that the fan motor must have bound up... even though the blades freely I had spun.

From what I understand the resistor serves the low speed side of the fan... and because the fan is on low should I assume the resistor is good?

Since at the cold start the passenger side fan was running high... should I assume that that resistor is bad and defaulting to the high speed? That wouldn't make sense... but I defer.

Should I, with the car parked, run the engine until it reaches operating temperature... see if the driver side fan comes on? Yesterday I did that and after reaching operating temperature the passenger side high speed kicked in... but not the driver side.

I don't yet want to button back up the wheel shroud until I get this sorted. Are there any other tests that I should be performing? Or, do I button it back up and keep an eye on the driver side fan... and leave the passenger side fan running high?

Any input, direction, or guidance is appreciated. Thank you.

Sounds more like your fan motor is on its last leg, especially if it came on after tapping on it. Both sides should run at the same speed, so if the right side is running at high speed and the left is running slower, it doesn't mean that the left is running at low speed. It means that it's running slow at high speed, another indication that the motor is bad.

[Starter986]

Originally Posted by piper6909

Sounds more like your fan motor is on its last leg, especially if it came on after tapping on it. Both sides should run at the same speed, so if the right side is running at high speed and the left is running slower, it doesn't mean that the left is running at low speed. It means that it's running slow at high speed, another indication that the motor is bad.

I believe you to be correct. I did some more reading and find that at low speed the fan virtually is silent. I had to get down there to hear it running. The high speed... that you can hear. I did find that the passanger side fan on low I could hear... and it sounded 'healthy'. The driver side, in comparison, was maybe half the speed and... from the same vantage point... I couldn't hear it until I got under it. That said...

Just came in from doing some more diagnosing. I removed the four relays. I then jumped each of them.

Passenger side high and low speeds relays. Worked.

Driver side relays? Nothing.

Reinstalled the relays... started the car (cold)... turn on AC.

Passenger side fan high speed on.

Driver side fan. Nothing. Reach under... a few taps... starts spining low speed.

It appears that a new fan is in order... you called it..

Couple more questions...

The passenger side coming on high speed. It should be low speed. Does that sound like a resistor? Should I purchase a low mile used resistor... with the entire harness... plugs... swap it out? Should I replace the entire fan unit?

Likewise the driver side fan. Low mileage used... ~$60? New aftermarket ~$65?

WWPD?