NovaKnowledgeNow

My radiator fan doesn't work.
I hooked it up directly to the battery, it was fine.
The fuses keep blowing out.

I tried to jumper the Radiator Fan relay switch. When I did, there was a spark, and the paper clip started glowing red, and got quite warm. The fan did infact work, but I don't think it's supposed to have that much electricity running through it.

Any ideas?

slowDB7

Possibly a shorted out wire?

stowne78

What size fuses are you using and are you sure they are the correct size? If so sounds like your fan is toast. As in, if you had left it hooked up to the battery you would have started melting ****.

NovaKnowledgeNow

That's what I'm thinking, but I don't know where.

I hook the fan up to the battery, and I don't see any melting or anything.

People have told me it's a ground somewhere that I missing, but I can't find anything to tell me where the grounds are actually located, or photos of where they are or what they look like.

stowne78

Alright. You hook up the fan, and it is blowing fuses, yet when hooked up to the battery it funs. That means either the part of the circuit you are bypassing is shorting to ground somewhere or that the motor is drawing more current than it should. This can be caused by really bad bearings, or there is leakage to the frame of your car after the windings, which is allowing the motor to turn as the battery is essentially shorting itself out. Or the windings themselves are shorting/arcing internally and you just can't see it because it's covered up. Unfortuneatly you probably don't have a DC amp meter, so hook your fan up to the battery and let it run for a couple minutes. If you haven't killed your battery by then put your hand on the fan motor and see how hot it is.

stowne78

Your fan wouldn't run without a ground, but it is possible to draw a lot more current if you have a BAD ground, aka there is a connection but it has a high resistance. This would make the fan motor draw more current and blow fuses as well.

NovaKnowledgeNow

I swapped it in for the coolant fan, and it ran just fine on that side, which tells me there is something wrong with the wiring , or something wrong with a bad ground. If the fan runs fine on the condenser fan side, I don't think it can be the fan itself.

My dad understands electronics really well from his days in the military, and he was describing it as a BAD ground, with the lowering(?) of resistance, it would cause it to draw abnormally more current, which would cause the fuse to blow.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with it.... So if we want to problem solve this avenue, where would I go to look for the grounds. I see G### on some of the wiring diagrams, but I have NO idea where to find these or how to test them/fix them.

I hate electrical problems. This is why I have shyed away from older VWs...

ReaperMan

its a 97 accord?

NovaKnowledgeNow

Yup. 97 Accord LX 2.2

Lost Again

G201 is the ground for the radiator fan (right pass side).

I ans NZ posted pic's of this not long ago....let me see if I can find that thread.

EDIT: here it is - https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/94-accord-electrical-issue-3148490/

NovaKnowledgeNow

On a whim, I plugged the condenser fan into the Radiator fan plug, and plugged the radiator fan back into the coolant fan's plug.

(Basically, I took the fans off, and switched them)

This time, the Radiator fan blew, but the Condenser fan ran fine.
This told me for sure, it was definitely the Radiator Fan. I'm not sure why it didn't blow the first time I tried it.

Either way, I swapped out the Radiator fan motor, and Tada! Problem solved!