williamsmh

Hello All...

My 1993 Honda Accord EX is running hot... The radiator has been replaced recently,
but the cooling system is fine.. there are no bubbles.. level is constant.. The car
will idle all day long without the temp increasing.. it will run all day long at highway
speeds. The temp rises if the car is in stop and go traffic... the temp guage runs
up to the red, but drops again when traffic clears.. This seems to occur on HOT days, but not on cooler days..

I recently noticed that one of the fans is not working.. real shame.. as if I had noticed this before, I'd have replaced it when I replaced the radiator.. The driver side fan is the a/c fan, and it works fine.. The passenger side fan is the engine fan, and it is not kicking on when the car gets
warm, or when the car is shut off...

So.. the following questions..

1) is there a coolant temp sensor that could have failed or is this most likely
the fan itself?
2) for anyone that has replaced this fan, where did you get it?

I stopped by Autozone but they had a motor separate from the fans and it seems
to me that the fan motor was a part of the fan...?

Thanks in advance...!




Modified by williamsmh at 5:12 AM 8/28/2005

sauceja

You can replace just the motor. You remove the fan shroud then gain access to the fan/motor assembly.
You should first try spinning the fan with your hand. (Make sure the engine has been off for 10 minutes as the fans can automatically come on for 5 minutes after the car has been shut off, this is very important)
If it spins freely then that is good. otherwise bad. You can check your fan motor also by removing the relay and jumping with a fused wire but I am not sure exactly which ones. I think 87 & 30? I am sure Desert H or Vanilla will know for sure.
Otherwise start with basics and check fuses, relays, wiring, Thermostat could be sticking but that would not cause fan not to work but would cause overheating.

williamsmh

thanks for the reply sauceja...
I just checked the fans.. both spin freely...
Also.. the fuses are just fine...

looking at it all more closely.. I see that the motor
and the fan are indeed separate... removing the
fan shroud looks to be a PITA however ...
it seems that that it's almost easier to simply remove the radiator again!

I'd love to get more detailed info on how to test
to make sure the fan is DOA before pulling it..

hondadude

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by williamsmh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I'd love to get more detailed info on how to test
to make sure the fan is DOA before pulling it..
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Follow the fan motor wires down to the lower passenger side of the radiator, unplug it. Next get 2 wires and run them from the fan connector to the battery, don't even worry about polarity.

deserthonda

try a quick test.......start car up and put a/c on both fans should work i know the main cooling fan does not, get a screwdriver and hit the back side ot the fan motor if it comes on u got a bad motor and by the way there is no need to remove radiator just to replace the fan motor ,,there are 4 10mm bolts 2 on top 2 on bottom, you need to partially remove the lower splash shield , then disconnect the plug and u can pull the shroud assembly out ,once out swap the motor,,,Now if when u hit fan motor and it does not come make sure you are getting power and ground at the plug ..if you are ,,fan motor is no good if you are not ,since u said fuse is ok , it could be a bad relay. or wiring ........A silly question you did plug everything back up when u replaced radiator right??? the main fan plug is below the coolant overfill bottle ...

williamsmh

deserth.... I included the info on the radiator as I had replaced it (throwing $$
at the problem)... figuring for $65 on a 13 year old car that the radiator was
ineffective...

I did start it up and turn the a/c on (only the a/c fan came on) and while hitting
the back of the fan with a screwdriver.. nothing happened... :-( Next I went and unplugged the fan... it was definitely tightly plugged in..

Honda dude.. thanks for the tip! I added some speaker wire connectors to one
end of some 14 gauge speaker wire and then touched them to the leads on the
battery and the fan WORKS! ...

So.. the fan WORKS, it's just not getting power... and the fuses are ok (swapped
them rather than just eyeball them) ... is there a relay..? or is there some sort
of temperature sensor that is in the thermostat that sends a signal to the fan?

Info on and LOCATIONs of these needed...
Thanks again guys!

williamsmh

Well.. there is good news and bad news... I just drove the car around and
the hood and got it good and warm... The fans are both kicking on now...
It's very possible I did not have the fan connected? With the a/c on, both
run, and when the car is at rest idling.. the temp gets up a little over 3/4 and
then the fans kick on and they stay on until the temp is back at 1/2.

However... the car does appear to be losing coolant :-(
It's disappearing from the lower front corner.. I'll check the lower radiator
hose... or I suppose the coolant reservoir could have a small crack or an
overflow in that area?


Modified by williamsmh at 6:38 PM 8/28/2005

sauceja

whatever you do don't put some kind of leak repair in your radiator as you could damage rad. further. Find the leak and fix.

williamsmh

nope.. I'd never touch that stuff... I got under the car and found that the idiot
installer (read: me) did not get the radiator mounted on the bottom mount on
the passenger side.. methinks the pressure and/or vibration were causing the leak..
I've got it seated now.. figure I'll change the oil while it's up in the air, and then
see if there's permanent damage to the radiator or not. I'm starting to feel like
a hack mechanic..

deserthonda

test the radiator cap.........also u could have a t-stat that does not open all the way ..or a cooling fan switch that opens late

williamsmh

eariler this week I went ahead and pulled the radiator.... as it turns out.. the
aftermarket condenser I have has two bolts that were rubbing against the
radiator and they damaged some of the fins... these bolts were not on the OEM
condenser(noticed when installing the condenser a few years back after a rock
took out the condenser)..

I took the radiator back to the company I got it from... Explained that their condenser
bolts were a factor ( combined with my crooked install) and they found that the
radiator was repairable and gave me a new unit.. I've installed some cardboard
strips to keep the screws from hitting the new radiator and made sure it is all
lined up properly... hooked everything up and just took a 15 mile test drive
and all is well!

thanks for everyone's help!