I always see lots of fluid in my overflow tank and i never really hear my fan kick in so i was wondering is there was a way to run power directly to the fan so see if its even functioning properly?

 

Yeah, just jump it to the battery and see if it works.

If the wire doesn't reach just plug wires into the plug and touch the other ends to the battery terminal, if it spins, it works.

Note that if ur T-stat isn't working it may not kick on but may be functional. If your t-stat's not working then your car will just keep getting hot, so as long as you're runnin a bit below half way between H and C on ur temp guage everything's working peachy.

If you want to see if it works w/o touching anything.

Start your car, let it idle. Raise the hood and sit there on the fender or something, in <10 minutes the fan will kick on, you'll know when it does because you'll see it.

You'd probably want to do that in warmer weather though, not in the morning when it's 35 degrees out.

If your car's idling for like 10min and the temp's goin up and the fan hasn't kicked on yet, your t-stat's probably bad.

Though if the temp's fine I wouldn't worry about it, though just letting it idle there while watching the fan will tell you for sure. Don't sit inside the car and listen to it b/c that won't tell u for sure...just watch it.

oh yeah, don't rev the car up to make the engine hot so it'll turn on faster (if it is working) - engines aren't meant to be ran cold which is why it idles fast when you start it (to warm it up as quickly as possible), so revving a cold motor is just about as horrible as you can get for it...

Goodluck....

 

Thanks Syndacate. I thought that was maybe a way to jump the fan, but wasn't sure. Now that you mention it im pretty sure my t-stat is bad. I had to let the car idle for 15 minutes this weekend while flushing out the coolant system and a no go on the fan coming on. I wish i knew at what temp my car was running, but when i was taking off the indiglo gages the previous owner had i snapped off the needle by accident. I'll be sure to pick up a t-stat this weekend. Thanks again Syndacate.

 

another way is to unplug the thermoswitch (sensor pluged into the water neck side of the t-stat housing) and jump the harness with a piece of wire/paper clip. this is a good way to check if the switch is bad too.

 

Nice, all good info guys. I will cover all the ground you stated.

 

Ok, so i ran wire from the battery to the fan and the fan didnt come on. When doing this do i need to ground the wire? I really hope its not the fan motor. This car is going to nickel and dime me to death

 

updated, i went out on break and tested the relay and its working (can hear it click). So that leaves the GD fan. F*ck. Well time to buy a new one. Thanks for your help everyone

 

=/ gonna get off early to fix my car. thanks for the motivation. lol EJ1!