My car was overheating on the way home today...only when stopped at a light. Once I got moving it would cool back down. But when I was stopped, I didn't hear the usual drop in idle speed as the fan turned on. So my guess is that my fan is f'ed.

I know that you can check the fan to see if it works by hardwiring it. How is this done?

Also, isn't there a switch that tells the fan to come on when the car gets hot? Thermoswitch or something? Where is this and how much $ for a new one?

What else is associated w/the fan? Could the grounding be bad?

I'm gonna drain, flush, and refill the coolant ASAP. I do have a brand new radiator cap on there. I don't know if the reservior was boiling over or steaming or anything - need to check that out too. It was too dark when and where it happened.

GIVE ME IDEAS...I hate it when cars pull this sh*t.

Alex

 

the thermoswitch/fanswitch is located on the thermostat housing. tranny side of the motor near the upper radiator hose. the thermoswitch has a two-pin plug. take a wire of any kind of conductor, EX: paperclip. and put one end on each pin. if the fan comes on then replace the switch. its also a good idea to replace the thermostat at the same time since it could have been ruined by you overheating your car.

 

Depends which car was overheating. If its your CRX, the fan switch is in the back of the block next to the oil filter. If its the 99, then its in the thermostat housing. Make sure you check that the switch is defective before you change your coolant, because if the switch needs changed, you have to drain the coolant to do it.

 

Oops, sorry...twas the CRX. Oh, and the thermostat is already fricked on the CRX so I was gonna replace that anyway.

Damn. Thermoswitch is all the way by the oil filter?

So I touch a piece of metal to both pins on the thermoswitch, and if the fan DOES come on, then I need to replace the switch? Or is that the fan that you're talking about (the pins on the fan connector)? *EDIT* just re-read some stuff...so the fan switch = thermoswitch, right?

Thanks for the help guys - I need all I can get.

Alex


[Modified by Quik89Si, 10:32 PM 10/29/2002]

 

same thing happened to my black si fans never turned on, never found the prob so just ran a switch for the fan... very ghetto but im lazy

 

on my ZC, the thermoswitch is right near the oil filter. i pulled the 2 wires off the switch and connect the two wires together with a piece of wire. like someone said above, if the fans turn on, the switch is bad. (to get the fans to turn on, you have to turn your ignition on while connecting the two wires).

if the fans don't turn on, then your cooling fan relay is bad or your fan is bad. i would test the fan first. pull the fan out and just run some wires to the fan plug from the battery. see if it works.

if the fan work when hard wired, then your cooling fan relay is bad. the relay is mounted on on the inside of the passenger's side fender. its right near the battery. honda will want $50 for a new one and i couldn't find any parts store that carried them...

good luck.





[Modified by breaka_1_9, 8:22 AM 10/30/2002]

 

on my car i just did the fan straight, without needing a switch. that's ok for summer time, or if u live in a hot weather area all year long. all i did was take the negative plug from the fan and "grounded" it to a bolt behind the intake filter. the positive was then rewired to a fuse in the fuse box inside the car.
If u are planning on doing this make sure to use a fuse which cuts off once the car is turned off, if not your fan will stay on.
I'll be taking mine's off, cuz' i might have to use it on winter.

 

i wired my fan to a "12V at startup source" and now the fan turns on when i turn my car on. i like it like this. if you would like to do this pm me and ill tell ya how.

 

Okay, another question...can the fans not coming on actually cause the car to overheat? That doesn't make sense to me, that the amount of air moved by the engine fan will actually cool the motor down that much.

As you can tell, I don't know **** about cooling systems. I just need to get this figured out.

So to make the jumper-between-the-wires-at-the-fan-switch-test work, I need to have the car turned on, or the ignition on, or not at all, or what?

Thanks again for the help -

Alex

 

yes the fans not running can actually overheat the car. the air cools the coolant which cools the motor.


i always disconnect the neg terminal on the battery when working with the elctrical system, so here are the steps that i performed...

1. disconnect neg. terminal on battery
2. unplug the 2 wires going to the thermo switch.
3. connect the 2 wires together via a piece of wire. make sure the connection is good so the wire connecting the 2 wires doesn't fall out and short something
4. connect the neg. terminal on the battery
5. turn the ignition on and see if the fan turns on

that should help you out. if you have any more questions just ask.

 

Thanks, dude...now I know exactly what to do. I guess I just need stuff spelled out for me pretty well.

Alex

 

Alright...now today I drove it about 15 minutes to my parent's house. Going up one of the long, tall hills on the way, the temp started to go up but never over half.

Didn't go over half the rest of the way, but did fluctuate between 1/3 and 1/2.

Got to the house, let the car sit at idle and revved it for a bit. Fans didn't turn on, temp stayed at almost 1/2.

Drove back to my place. Didn't heat up. Got here and let it sit. After idling for about 1 minute, the fans kicked on. Let them run for 30 sec or so, and shut it off. And here I am.

So what would make the fan act so erradically? Could it be due to the broken thermostat? The car takes forever to get warm in the mornings, so I'm sure the thermostat is fudged.

Thanks again for the help.

Alex

 

Mine didn't work for years and I got it fixed yesterday. I can't believe I drove around with my radiator fan not working.

 

sounds like a bad thermostat to me. try replacing that and performing the same test. let us know what happens.