MJMAccord

I am trying to figure out how the fans on my 4-cyl. 1997 Accord are supposed to operate (I'm having what appears to be a fairly common overheating issue as a result). Which fan is supposed to turn on when you turn the AC on? When is the other fan supposed to come on? Which fan does what, and when?

When I start the car, neither fan comes on. If I turn on the AC, the passenger's side fan starts. When I stop the car, the passenger's side fan will run for a matter of minutes. I also began having these issues after having my AC fixed. When I took the car to the shop, they said it was a switch for the fan (not sure which one they meant). They charged me and hour labor for it and said it took some work. I recently replaced the driver's side fan myself. It still does not turn on when I start the car. Any help would be appreciated.

poorman212

I can only use my 95 as a reference, same gen so should be close. When the engine gets warm (ac off at this point and only as the engine gets warm) BOTH fans should come on. If the temp gauge gets over half or towards 3/4 and neither fans come on..shut it off as there are other issues. Then if the left/drivers side is not running but the pass/right is you'll need to work back. You've replaced it so we can ASSUME the fan motor is good. In the manuals there are directions to which fuse and relay (under hood fuse/relay box) go to the "condensor" fan. Then there is the switch.

phootbag

Both fans should come on for cooling and when the A/C is operated. Things that fail first are loads and moving parts. In this case I would say motors and relays fail first.

I don't know what diagnostic tools you have. Each fan has it's own relay. An easy check would be to swap the fan relays with eachother. Since you know one fan works you know it's relay is good. Swap relays and see if the other fan starts working.

MJMAccord

Thanks. I don't have much time or many tools, but this is still helpful. Does anyone know when the driver's side fan is supposed to come on? Does it come on when the vehicle starts? When the temp. reaches a certain point? Is the correct fan coming on (the passenger side fan comes on) when I turn the A\C on? I started having these issues after some A\C repair.

poorman212

On a 4 cyl. Usually the right/pass side is called a cooling fan and the left/drivers side is called the condensor fan.

With the AC off, the fans should come on only when the engine gets to ~220, sorry not going to look up the exact temp but this is close.

As soon as you turn on the ac the fans will come on.

Please note the "fans" mean BOTH -

By your questions I can assume the right/pass side is not coming on at all. Is that correct? Let's start with this question.

MJMAccord

Sorry I took awhile to respond. It's actually the passenger side fan that works. When I turn the car on, neither fan comes on. If I turn the A\C on shortly afterward, the PASSENGER side fan comes on but the driver's side fan does not. The driver's side fan doesn't operate at any time. Once the engine has warmed up, the passenger side fan will run. It will also kick on when I turn off the car for a matter of minutes.

phootbag

Check for power and ground at the fan connector with the A/C on, car running. If yes, the fan is probably faulty. If no, there is a circuit problem. Also, I don't know if this has been mentioned or not but you might want to try swapping the relays, it's an easy check and a cheap one, too.