I decided to try to finally wire up a manual fan switch today. Did all my searching and came up with it being as simple as grounding one of the wires on the relay. So I just went outside and tried. Car'd been sitting for a while, so when I turned the key on the fan didnt come on. Single fan, 86 lg4, non cc. I grounded the wire and i could feel the relay click. Then the fan came on for a brief instant and then off again. So I jiggled the wire around and tried again, same thing. I finally got it to the point where it would turn the fan on for about three seconds, off for about three seconds, and then it stayed on constantly. Is this right? Sound like a bad connection, or am I doing something wrong? I dont want to damage the relay..

Anyhow, in this pic I took, I grounded the green wire with the white stripe. Top row, second from the right. Is this even the right relay? The other one I removed looks a little more like the diagrams I have seen, but I'm not certain. Help?

 

It sounds like your relay might be heading south.
Exactly how did you ground out the wire? What I did for mine was unplug the connector from the pass head, stick a paper clip in it, and then hold it to the frame rail. Fan came on instantly. I have since then, made a manual fan switch out of a fog light switch. After I installed this switch, I thought I had screwed something up because the fan wasn't coming on right away. I replaced the relay, and now it works correctly.

 

could be. i think i saw your thread. well i have completed mine and it works fine now. i grounded it by placing one end of a wire in contact with the strut mount and the other end in contact with the exposed part of the green wire, and i already had a switch on my console that wasnt in use because of my recently shaved power antenna. *shrug*

 

can it be done thise way: both power wires on fans in parallel-run 1 wire up to switch in dash(or wherever u want it)-one wire from that switch to power with fuse in line (or to fuse block)-and then ground out the fans in parallel or ground the switch? i wired up fog light like this in my old ta and it works fine.

 

I asked about doing it that way before, and people said not to. To just use the relay. And that works just fine.

 

my relay switches dont look like that up there, theres 3 relays, 1 says maf power i know its not that. theres another one with 5 wires coming out of it green, brown, yellow, all with white stripes and one bigger orange wire and a smaller orange wire. and a 3rd one closest to drivers fender that has 2 fat orange wires and a brown and blue wire. im thinking that its the second relay with the 5 wires. but if anyone can tell me im wrong htat would be great so i dont mess something up

 

i assume this is the one i should be working on here with an x through it...the only problem is that the plug the wires are connected into slide up and down the plug. i hold all of them to the very end of the p[lug and push the relay on, i turn the ign on a 2 times, it clicks both times but on the third time it doesnt, i push the green wire back in and it clicks a few more times then i hafta pull off the relay and push all the wires back to where they should be. it almost seems like the force of the current going threw them pushes the wires back out away from the metal tab on the relay. so what do i do to keep wires from moving. iv thought about electrical tapeing them but i dont hink itle hold for long. or buying a new plug and the metal clips and rewireing it. if anyone has an idea let me know

 

see how some metal tabs are deeper thaN others int he pic i attached. if i put them to the very edge of the black plug, and i put the relay on it clicks then thats it. it always clicks atleast 2 times (by turning ignition on/off) when i hook it up, so i tried grounding out the green wire once when the ignition was on and another time with ignition on and ac on. im not sure if the ac even works cuz on the condensor??? (shiney metal thing near firewall) theres a plug not plugged in but has a wire with a fuse goin through it connected to itself. ill get a pic if u wanna see that.

hopefully this helps some of u to determine my problem, just ask if u need mor pics/info...those damn relays are starting to make me mad

 

83Firebird420,
I would get a newer style relay and connector and use that.
the old style is prone to melting and losing contact.

If you have dual fans with twin relays, you can tap one wire to a switch to both green wires on the relay to ground them out if you'd like. should work fine. I just used 2 separate switches so I'd have independent control. I don't use the switches beucause after I reprogrammed my prom, my fans started to work on thier own again. I still can't figure that one out.

If your cooling system is working correctly there should be no need to have both fans running with the A/c off.

It's lke 80*'s here and I was hot ******* the car all over town today and my temps stay at 170 all the time, even when I am sitting still for 15 20 minutes.