zero808

hey, im new to this import car thing. last car i had was a truck, and the fan was mechanically driven by the belt. anyways, i was looking at my 95 civic coupe, and recently dropped into it was a GSR motor. the coupe still has the stock radiator in it. whenever i look at the engine bay tho, even after a 20 minute drive, the fan is never on. is it supposed to be? i dont have a water temp gauge, so i never know the car is gonna overheat or not. can someone explain to me what this electric-based fan does, cuz rite now, im thinking nothing . is it broken?

how do i check to make sure that my cooling system is actually working w/out a temp gauge? i could careless if the fan never goes on, so long as i dont overheat my engine.. if you guys could help, please...and be descriptive with simple words, im not all that great in english yet..

i've been hearing ways to 'jump' the fan to make it work, how do i do that? i read about the paperclip trick, no idea how to do that.. i have a haynes book for my car, but i read it, and it doesnt help me much =\ i want to say that theres a sensor problem, but i dont know how to check for it. is there any way i can check it.
yes i kno that a cert mech could be an option, but money is tight rite now, and im fairly knowledgable about how cars work, so i can do some work, plus i have a few helping hands.

i feel so lost with this car..help!

vancoland

when you had the last engine, did you see the fan turn on? I have a 2000 si and have yet to see my fan turn, but my temp gauge is always normal...theres just usually more coolant in the reservoir after a long drive

drtyhatch

is the temp gauge broken or do you not have a gauge cluster in the car? that would be the first thing i would fix. after you fix that i would drive it and see if your temp stays normal, let it sit just a little while running aswell and see if the fan cuts on, you also need to make sure your coolant system is bled. but first and foremost fix your gauge. if you need help with that just tell us what its doing.

zero808

i just recently bought the car, so i wouldnt know if the fan ever goes on or not

yes i have a gauge cluster, but its a DX cluster. unless, im mistaken oil pressure gauge for the wrong thing. im buying an EX cluster in a week or 2.

the car has never overheat on me, but i can sometimes feel along of engine heat in the cabin of the car.

vancoland

to jump and make the fan turn on....open up your fuse box under the hood...your fuse box cover should tell you which relay is the cooling fan. take that relay out and you will see four metal pins in the fuse...now take some wires and connect the pins that are parallel together...so you should have 2 connections...that should make your fan turn on. if the fan turns on...it could be your relay is bad.

You could also check your switch that connects to the radiator, should be right next to each other. unplug that switch and connect the pins in the switch to each terminal of the battery...red = negative, black = positive...if it turns on then you know that your fan and motor is working...could be the thermo switch that is connected to the housing that isn't working, or the relay

Like i said...I haven't seen my fan turn on at all....and it also never over heated...goes up to less than half way mark on the temp gauge and stops there...both of the methods described above turns on my fan..but i haven't seen it turn on after running my car(probably because i don't look that often), but i don't really care because it doesn't give me any indication its overheating on my gauge.