ok I'm going to try and explain this without totally confusing everyone.


today I went to my friends house earlie and the car was running cool as can be, I just recently replaced my water pump and radiator so the car cools better than ever.

when I got to my friends house I wanted to show him the scanning software on my laptop and how it works, so I hooked everything up and started scanning the car, he noticed on the laptop my car was running pretty hot, about 220 degrees wich it NEVER gets any hotter than 180, I thought it was because the car had been sitting at idle for about 20 minutes while I was showing him everything. About 5-10 minutes later when I looked at the temp again it was at about 240! I immediatly turned off the car and poped my hood. nothing was leaking so I asked my friend to turn on the car while I made sure the water pump and radiator were ok. Everything seemed to be fine until I noticed that neither of my dual fans wern't working!!??

Let me give you the backround on my fan setup.

I have ******* total fan control setup on my car wich worked perfectly, the primary fan turned on at about 160 due to the temp switch that goes into the radiator. the secondary turns on @ factory settings. I have two switches that turn the fans on manually by using a secondary ground, the fans have thier stock wiring still & will turn on automatically without me having to turn them on, the swtiches are for me to turn the secondary or primary on whenever I please.

Now that I have that out of the way let me get to my problem.

like I was saying the fans were not working, so I tried the switches, they didn't have any affect. so I turned off the car, but I noticed as I was turning the car off the fans came to life for a second, so I turned the key in the "on" position and both fans turned on without a hitch with my manual switces, when I fully turned the car on, the fans turned off!? and when I put the key back into the on position the fans turn back on again.

I ended up having to make a quick bypass to run 12v power to my primary fan to go back home.

so to sum it all up:

when the car is in the on position, they do not automaitcally turn on like thier supposed to from the factory, but I can use my secondary ground switches to turn them on.

When the car is running they do not turn on from my switches nor do they turn on automatically like there supposed to.

what could be going on here? I can drive the car around by using direct 12v power, but I want to take care of this problem A.S.A.P.

If anyone has any idea what it can be please tell me, I am stumped.

thanks.

 

Wow, that sucks man. Sorry I can't help you. My fan setup is all stock. Did you ask Tom yet?

 

i honestly don't think that Tom would know, but he can look @ his magical book hehehe.

 

Should I add a switch to mine to help cool it down? How much will it help?

 

look at it this way, you stock op. temp for you fan to turn on is 195 degrees

imagine keeping your car a good 20 degrees cooler by adding a cooler thermostat and turning you fan on way before it reaches 195.



yes it's worth it.

My car used to run @ 220 stock, after the cooling upgrade with a 160 stat it ran @ 170, wich kicks butt but the car won't the out of warm up mode thuse robbingsome performance, so I installed a 180 stat and now it constsantly stays @ 175-80 during the daya nd cooler @ night.

i can help you install switches to your fans etu if ya want.

 

That sounds cool. I just put a 170* thermostat in this last weekend. My car runs a little cooler now, but I'd like to get down below 200*.

 

you have a couple of pm's

 

Got it!

 

It is confusing. What do you mean with the key"on" they do not turn on like they are supposed to. Key "on" and "run" are the same. I assume you mean that if the engine is hot enough the pri. fan is not running when it should. That's at about 225 degrees, but you say that you have a rad sw at 160. More confusing. Dual fan setups get one side of 12 volts from a fuse link. Both relays are fed from a common source and since they do work on occasion I would rule that out. Sounds like you are losing relay coil power, that's key "on" controlled. First, do this. Place the ALDL jumper in like you would do to retrieve trouble codes. Turn key to on or run, don't start engine. Primary fan which is ECM controlled should come on and run while it shows flashing 12 and any other codes. Leave everything set up and pull the pri fan relay and measure at the socket. One of the 2 heavy wires should have 12 volts and one of the lighter guage wires should have 12 volts also. I'll bet the heavy wire will have 12, probably the lighter guage which is coil power is missing. If the fan won't run with the ALDL jumped try wiggling the ign key in the cyl. Then try tapping on the fan relay with a screwdriver handle with it plugged back in. The contacts may be cooked and just acting intermittent and driving you crazy. You can also test it by using manual fan sw 1 and key in on position. In a pinch you can swap the heater blower relay for a test in most cases. This so called "total fan control" is basically total chaos for the electrical system. I don't care what you read here or anywhere else, the relays and electrical system are not designed for the duty cycle you place on it by modifying the stock operating parameters. LOL I will pull an 87 wiring diagram when I get home and edit if I find anything of interest.