GunnerGTA

Hey guys,

I need a little help here. My fans quit working a little while back and while I have not gone through the entire troubleshooting sequence I wanted to share what I have done and what I have found at this point. I swapped all relays with a known good relay with no luck. I then inspected the battery area and all connections/fusible links in that area. I did not find any blown fuses, however I found a small spot of missing insulation on the orange wire for the fusible link coming off the alternator wire. I did not see any other issues in that area so I taped it up. This is the orange wire that comes out of the black cylindrical protrusion on the alternator wire(whatever that is called). The wire was damaged near the connector. After visually seeing no other issues I put the battery back in and grounded the 2 prongs on the OBD1 port as though to pull codes and the fans did in fact come on but only for a couple seconds. I went back to the area I just worked on and found that same orange wire was now completely broken in half just aft of where I had taped the damaged insulation. In looking at it further much of the copper had deteriorated inside of the insulation and wasn't even making a connection that I could solder together. The only way I can see repairing this is to replace the alternator to battery cable. Does this make sense that this is causing the fan issue? Could that wire just have gone bad, or do you think there is another issue at play. Even with the wire broken all other aspects of the car worked at 100%. Please shoot me any other questions if you can help me out.

Thanks,

Gunner

GunnerGTA

I did not find any blown fuses in then fuse panel beneath the dash either.

GunnerGTA

Here are some pics to help give me some advice.

First picture is the cable coming from the alternator to the battery from which the orange wire that broke originates.

Second picture is where the orange wire broke off of that cable

Third is the broken part of that orange wire and the connector that is attached to it.

Fourth is the the continuation of that orange wire and the other end of the connector that runs into the rest of the harness.

aramirez121

i had the same problem with that i found it was the fusable link coming from the wiring harness off the alternator replaced it now it works

GunnerGTA

Thanks for the help, and a big thanks to Joe Tag for walking me through the issue and how to repair.

ChevyAllTheWay8

To Everyone With Cooling Fan Issues,
I pulled the whole front end out of my 89 IROC-Z and rebuilt the engine and front suspension. Before I did that my cooling fans were working fine. Although I did not really touch that circuit, they were not working when I got the car back running. After changing every sensor and a couple plugs, and also checking my relays to ensure they were good, and tracing the whole circuit to ensure signals, voltage, and ground were received, I found that my relays just weren't grounded good enough. They ground mostly through the mounting bracket they attach to. After grinding of all the paint on the brackets, and mount locations, and bolting them in, My fans are back working! So maybe you others won't go through all the trouble I did before finding your problem. Remember, It's always the simplest things that will bite you in the butt! So check them first!
Also, The Airdam makes all the difference in the world when it comes to temp on these cars!