The fan won't turn on in front of the radiator. The condensor fan works fine, just not the other one.

OK, I've checked the following:

Fuses - under hood and in driver's side fuse panel - all ok
Relays - swapped one with another - all fine

Everything looks good. What else could it be? Any way to test if the motor is shot?

Thanks,

Neil

 

Anyone?

 

Think it could be the fan switch? #14 (bottom right)

 

Or thermostat? Is your check engine light on? Could be just a faulty sensor too.

 

No check engine light. The thermostat doesn't activate the fan.

 

Checking the fan motor:

Disconnected Fan:
If you have access to an electrical ohm meter (simple ones available at Radio Shack), you can test the fan at the connector/terminals (disconnect the fan motor connector/wires). If the fan motor checks "open" (high/infinite resistance) it is bad. If it checks "zero ohms" it is shorted (and this would have also blown a fuse). Some motors may check low ohms (not exactly zero) and this is normal.

Connected Fan:
With the electrical meter set to dc voltage, you can also check to see if there is voltage at the fan terminals ... if there is voltage there and the fan doesn't work, then the fan is bad. ALSO, BE VERY CAREFUL CHECKING THE FAN VOLTAGE IF THE FAN IS STILL CONNECTED AND THE MOTOR IS RUNNING...IF THERE IS A BAD CONNECTION AND THE FAN STARTS WORKING WHEN YOU ARE CHECKING IT, YOU COULD BE INJURED BY THE FAN BLADES...

 

Checked with the ohm meter and it showed .001 ohms @ the 2K setting.

Turned the key to accessory and did the DC voltage test at the connector and got nothing. I did not connect it to the fan. It was still disconnected.

 

probably fan switch or bad fan motor I would think

 

Buy the mugen mods (t-stat, fan switch, rad cap) .. they are good to have anyway, and may fix your problem. If not, then I agree with flint, might be a bad fan motor. Replace the fan ..

 

You can be easily misled by reading the resistance on a fan motor. Unless you have a really good DVM, you could be fooled (and even with a very good DVM you could be fooled). Some motors have very, very low DC resistance and if stalled will pop the fuse. IOW, don't use a resistance test -- it isn't a good indicator unless you looking for a) opens and/or b) shorts to ground.


You might want to check to see if your radiator fan relay is kaput. If the "Radiator Fan Relay" is shot, your fan will NOT turn on.

If you MOTOR was shorted, you would expect to blow the fuse.

There's also more than one fuse that will impact the whole system (at least on the CL Type-S). Did you check the 30 AMP fuse (No 57 on CLS)?

<--- skip for non CLS -->

Finally, if you have a J32A2 (Type-S), there is a low-speed mode where the condenser and radiator fans are run in series. If the condenser fan is running and the radiator fan isn't, you have a bad radiator fan.

<--- end skip for non CLS --->

If the radiator motor had a short in it or it had a stuck rotor (didn't move), I'd expect the 30 AMP fuse (20 AMP in case of CL) to blow.


Oh, and it looks like you have a TL (I just did a search) -- right?

< -- try this -- >

1. Check the 20 AMP fuse again -- make sure it’s got continuity (close to zero ohms).

2. Check the radiator fan relay.

You should be able to pop the relay out and (per Helms CLS manual):

"Connect the No. 1 and No 2 terminals of the radiator fan relay 4P socket with a jumper wire.

(Or get a wire jumper and get 12 volts to the fan motor)

If the fan runs, you have a bad relay, bad thermo switch, or bad control module.

I don't have the TL manual and schematic so I can't take you further without more info.

 

It's amazing how much you rely on this board for answers and don't realize all the resources you have right under your nose.

Well I decided to pull the Helms manual which I've had for several years....and used before

Ran through a bunch of diagnostics and low and behold it tells me it's what I thought.




Stealer wanted $46 for it. PepBoys wants $30. Looks like it's off to PepBoys to fix my ride.


Really can't wait around for the Mugen one so maybe next time. BTW, car has 60K+ on it.

Thanks all for your help.


Neil

 

EricL =

 

Woohoo. Fixed

 

Glad everything worked out for you Neil.

 

Good thing it's just the fan switch. Pretty easy and cheap fix.

 

The overheating might have ruined your oil. Change it for safetys sake.

 

Someone that's done the Mugen mod - Send him your old Switch.

 

seriously if your spending the money, I had the Mugen in 3 days. I would consider it.

 

And what do I drive in the meantime?