Today on my way home from running errands I stopped for dinner at a local fast-food joint. I got my food to go and was out the door in 5 minutes.
Now come the fun bits.
I turned on my engine and threw it in reverse smelled the pungent odor of burning wiring insulation, so I shut the engine down and popped the hood (from which a cloud of white smoke was spewing out of my right headlight hole (I'm missing the headlight because the bracket broke).

Anyway, long story short, the black and red wire for the radiator fan is cooked, and connecting the remaining end of it directly to the battery results in nothing (but it started the fan when I accidentally connected it to the + terminal of the battery while cutting out the burned section of wire).

I'm probably going to replace the fan-motor at this point, and it would probably be a good idea to replace the relay too. Is there anything I could be missing?

TIA.

 

The fan motor works? If so, why replace it? First, you might try to repair / splice the fan leads. Start the engine, see if the fan kicks on when it should. Replace the relay if necessary.

Just a suggestion; when repairing the fan lead install a weather proof in-line fuse. Make sure the lead is (at least) zip tied out of harms way.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the reply, I was also thinking last night (which can be hazardous to everyone's health): What if it's just the dash-fuse or the fusible link that's blown? I didn't check those... So where would I look for the fusible link?

TIA again.

 

The connector is burnt all to hell at the fan, I'm pretty sure the motor is shot. I'm going to use my VOM at the connector to see if there is in-fact voltage getting to the fan.

If not then I suspect the Relay or Fusible Link.

 

Got an update.

Heated the engine up to 240 or so and left it in KOEO so I could probe the fan leads. There's 12.31V+ if I test at the negative lead (the one that goes to the CTS in the passenger side head) against the positive post of the battery, the other side is dead, no voltage between the positive lead and the negative battery post. Well, no. I take that back. There was voltage but it was jumping around between 4.2 and 0.003VDC.

Sounds like a busted relay.