so my car overheated on the way back from my buddies shop. I was about halfway home and he had some customers drive up as I was leaving so I didn't want to bother him. just let it cool off and drove home in intervals.

the first time I stopped however I noticed my wiper fluid hose was chomped full of holes. after the coolant res. boiled over for a minute a rat crawled out from near the firewall and started lapping up coolant....bastage!

I don't have access to a jack at the house so I can't tell for sure...but I think he chewed through my fan switch wire. the only easy way to get to it from underneath the car?

Also, in case its my thermostat messing up, whats the best way to get to it? I took the air intake system off and I still could only get to the bolt on the drivers side easily. any suggestions?

 

What year is your car? This will help a lot.

I think you can follow the wire from underneath the hood from the fan itself. A chiltons manual can be picked up at your local autozone or kragens. Those are great.

 

its an '87 Trans Am, 305 TPI V-8. has dual electric fans

 

i wold suggest buying some rat traps or mouse traps and put a couple under the hood at night or when your not using it. Put some peanut butter on them because they love that stuff. Not too much just a little dab no larger then a dime. Where there is one, there's many. Trust me. I had my car eaten by rats when it wasn't running. I had to replace wires and splice and etc. no fun


anyway im not sure where the wires lead on your car, ill leave that for someone else. I dont have an 87

 

If he's lapping up antifreeze, let him. He'll crawl up and die somewhere. Few recommendations:

1. Make sure you kill the rats.
2. Gut the car. I don't care how nice your interior is, disassemble everything. I guarantee that there's rat crap in places you never knew your car had, and dried rat feces and urine can cause diseases. Gutting the interior will also let you see any other wires that might have gotten the chomp chomp treatment. Take pictures during disassembly and bag your parts according to where they came from!
3. Repair any damaged wires.
4. While you have everything out, clean up any rust and then dynamat. Some people POR-15 and then dynamat. Also clean everything. Shampoo carpets, if necessary replace the under carpet padding, etc. etc.
5. Re-assemble. This should cover the interior of the car.

As for the thermo, I have no idea how to get at that other bolt. It's on my "to-do" list. As for the wire, it comes up from a loom that is near the front passenger fenderwell. I'll go out tomorrow and get a pic of it on my car. *But* the secondary fan is controlled by the fan switch, the primary fan is controlled by the computer and temp sensor. Let the car run up to operating temperature or higher (if you saw the coolant boilover, that would be the time to observe) and check the fans. If neither is running, that might be a relay. The relay is near the battery, and you can short different terminals on it to turn on either fan. If only the primary comes on, your secondary might not be hitting high enough temp (stock switch turn on temp is 230) or other things, to test everything except the switch, ground the connector for the fan switch key on engine off (I think key on engine off will run the fans. Will verify tomorrow) and if everything else is working, it should turn on. If it doesn't, wiring/relay/fan motor, etc. If the secondary comes on and the primary doesn't..... Well. That's gonna be fun.