Hey everybody. I've been a guest on the site for a long time, and now I need your help. I've searched all over the forum and I just can't seem to find this diagnosis. On my way home from work, my 97 CL 2.2 started running hot. Right before I got home the needle topped out and overheated.

I noticed at home that the fan on the passenger side was not spinning when I had the engine on, even if the a/c was running, which led me to believe it was either the thermostat or the fan motor.

I went to the parts store and said I wanted a radiator fan motor, but the guy said he used to work for acura and it was probably the fan relay, so I trusted him and bought it. It appears that the part he sold me connects to the driver's side fan, not the passenger side fan, so I don't want to install it yet.

I've checked the fuses and they all look fine. Would you all think it's the thermostat, fan motor or will the relay I was sold that attaches to the driver's side fan somehow run the passenger side fan as well?

I'm going to go ahead and change the thermostat (it's probably time for an update regardless).

Thanks in advance for your help. I don't want to install parts that won't work and diagnosis is not yet my strong point.

 

I actually just went through the same thing with my '99 3.0. In my case it was in fact the fan motor, if I let it get to normal operating temp and kicked on the AC, only 1 fan would run. But if I hand spun the non-running fan it would kick in. The motor was just to weak to start it, but was fine once hand started. I ended up getting a new motor online and have not had an overheating issue since (knock wood).

So I would suggest running your car to operating temp (near halfway mark on the temp gauge), turning on the AC and see if you can help it spin up by hand, carefully of course.

Another idea is to probe the lead of the non-running fan to see if it is getting voltage, or if you can apply voltage directly to it and see if it runs.


Either way, good luck figuring it out.

 

i vote to check the cooling fan relay under the hood fuse box.. if anything switch them with the a/c relay (should be the same) also double check the fuses..

 

that would be your radiator fan. Check the number 21 or 34 fuses in the under the hood relay/fuse box. Then check the the radiator fan relay, and then the radiator fan motor.

To check the fan motors, see my attachment

 

Thanks for the tips guys. I had church and my Mom's birthday party tonight, so I couldn't get down in the garage. I've checked the fuses, but I'll double-check and switch the relays while I'm in there tomorrow night.

Thanks for the file Saiko. I've got the shop manual for a 1994 Accord, which doesn't have that diagram. I'll run a jumper wire and test it out. I'll report back with the results after tomorrow night.

 

Okay guys, here's what we've got. The fuses are good. I switched the two identical relays in the under-hood fuse box and no change. That just left testing the radiator fan motor. I took an old extention cord, cut the ends off, stripped some of the insulation on both wires on both ends. I pulled out the radiator fan. I made loops out of one end the the wires and hooked them on the battery terminals. I took the other points and touched them to the fan power connection terminals and nothing happened. I tried switching the wire between the two power terminals on the fan and nothing happened. To make sure I had power I very quickly tapped my to ends together and I got a pop, so the wires were hot. It sounds like I've located my problem. Before I run out and buy a new radiator fan motor...

Question:
1) Do you think my extension cord jumper wires were good enough to run the radiator fan motor if it works?

 

Updated: I also used a multimeter to check continuity in the fan power terminals, and they did have continuity.

 

I think if you have a decent gauge extension cord, you're fine. I used some spare aircraft wire and soldered together a set of testing leads.

Sounds like you know what your problem is, glad I could help.

 

just went threw this with mine.....take out the autozone thermstat and get the honda one. i'v been running hot ever sence it got hot outside

 

OK guys...I changed the radiator fan motor and before I spliced my new wires to the old wiring harness, I tested the new fan with my jumper wires and they fired. AWESOME!

Next I determined which wire needed to be connected to the positive terminal to get the fan to spin the right way (blowing instead of sucking air). Then I used a multimeter to check for the ground terminal in the wiring harness connector in the car with a multimeter (if my understanding is correct, if I hold one probe on the negative battery terminal and the other on one of the plug terminals and it beeps, that is ground. If it doesn't beep, that should be where the positive terminal connects. Correct me if I'm wrong here). I spliced my wires accordingly, then installed the fan.

After that, I fired up the car...and the radiator fan is not spinning...

Will I have to drive the car around to get the engine hot enough for the radiator fan to spin, or should it start spinning immediately when I start the car?

I'm about at my wits end with this one...All help is greatly appreciated.

 

The radiator fan motors dont come on automatically when the car is started but come on when the water tempeture comes up to the point where it kicks in. So it is automatic in operation once the tempeture is past the cutin temp of coolant water.

 

This kinda sounded like what my problem is. Im glad you resolved yours. Can anyone give me any advice on this? Check out my post
https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-cl-problems-fixes-71/fan-driver-side-not-coming-830832/