I installed one of those aftermarket electric fans from Advance Auto Parts in my 2000 SI this past summer to take place of my stock fan (which under some unusual circumstances got destroyed). The fan I got from Advance worked fine all summer and fall long. I kept the car put away and off the road for the winter mostly. However, now that I have it back out and have been messing around with it again. I notice that my fan will not cut on. I have checked the fuses in it and noticed that it keeps blowing the 20 amp fuses. I opted to jump to a 30 amp and things did well for awhile. Well maybe a day or so, and then no fan working again. I noticed that the fuse wasnt blown and checked the relay. Well now that I know the relay is only rated up to 20 amps. Then theres no use putting in a dozen relays for every time I want my cooling fan to run. But Im curious as to why my aftermarket fan keeps blowing fuses. I have even tried grounding it differently, also checked the wiring up and down over and over again. Does anyone ever have a problem with aftermarket fans over powering the stock amperage that the stock fan is rated for (20amps) I havent been able to find a 30amp relay to try and was wondering if that should be my next resort. It seemed to work fine last summer and fall now I dont understand why it doesnt work. So if anyone has any help, it would be appreciated.

Thanks

Tetronious

00 SI
Greddy Boosted

 

You probably dont have access to one, but get a ammeter that will read amperage that high, and see what the start voltage/amperage is. Might want to check your alt and battery too. The power to run your fan is an inverse of amp/voltage. As the voltage increases, less amperage is needed to run/start the fan, as the voltage decreases, the more amperage is needed to run/start the fan. So if your alternator/batt is weakening, there will be more of a current draw on that line to start/run the fan.

Or at least thats my guess.

 

Last time that happened to me with the slim fan, the motor on the fan itself was gone and it kept blowing the fuse as soon as turned the ignition.

I got a replacement motor for the fan and problem solved.

 

Yeah, that too. If the motor is dead it could be creating a dead short in the wiring and will continue to blow fuses. Put a meter across it and test the ohms on the motor leads. If you are getting 0 ohms across the leads, chances are the motor is dead.

 

yeah the fan motor might have gotten moisture in it from sitting since you said it was sitting during the winter

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jlacoy82 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You probably dont have access to one, but get a ammeter that will read amperage that high, and see what the start voltage/amperage is. Might want to check your alt and battery too. The power to run your fan is an inverse of amp/voltage. As the voltage increases, less amperage is needed to run/start the fan, as the voltage decreases, the more amperage is needed to run/start the fan. So if your alternator/batt is weakening, there will be more of a current draw on that line to start/run the fan.

Or at least thats my guess. </TD></TR></TABLE>

So are you saying that a weaking battery might be causing an overload in amperage needed to start the fan? I dont know if this would do any good but my turbo timer has a voltage reading inside the car it usually reads 14.1-14.3 , on occasion I might see 12.4-12.6.

Tetronious

00 SI
Greddy Boosted

 

Nope, 12.5-14v is good! Read Evil HX Coupes reply, he may have got your answer right there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jlacoy82 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah, that too. If the motor is dead it could be creating a dead short in the wiring and will continue to blow fuses. Put a meter across it and test the ohms on the motor leads. If you are getting 0 ohms across the leads, chances are the motor is dead. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry but motor works fine, I hooked it up direct to the battery and it worked fine.


Tetronious

00 SI
Greddy Boosted