My husband is broken down on the side of the road stuck in bumper to bumper in Irvine, CA I-55N. We have a 89 IROC, it is overheating fans are not working even with a/c on. Fuse is good, must be switch or relay. How can we wire fan permmanently on? Have found relay... green, orange, tan & black/red wires. Thank you

 

I've done that before with a lead right from the battery directly to the fan, but I can't imagine doing that on the side of the road.

I would say sit it out until traffic clears, or drive the car on the shoulder until he can get to side streets... I know, easier said than done..

 

Have found quite place off freeway, have tools & wire. Please advise.

 

This is a little bit like operating over the telephone... let me get my GM service manual and I'll find out which wire is the positive one.... you'll want to splice the power into that one.

Does he have a way to tie into the positive side of his battery? usually this is done with a special battery terminal with a pigtail nut on it

if he can't get power to a wire, this is not going to work..

 

I'm also assuming that the fans themselves are not bad... there's two of them on that car, right? doubtful they would both burnout at the same time...

 

Have found fan wires, have two red/black and one black. which goes to positive of battery any which goes to negative of battery?

 

looking in the book... I would bet the red/black wires are positive, but I'm nbot sure why there are two of them... (or is that one to each fan?)

leave the black.. that's a ground already in place.. you need that

did he get power from the battery?

 

Yes, we have a pigtail nut.

 

I found it... black/red is positive, but I'm only seeing one wire...

I would say try to touch the end of the terminal with the hot wire from the battery, or carefully expose a little if the wire... tap it with the positive hot wire, and see if the fan moves... if you can get it to turn by touching the hot wire to the red/black, then my temp fix won't wirk, and I don't want to see you mar any more of the wiring...

 

Pull the fan switch plug off the passenger side head (between the rear two cylinder exhaust ports) and ground it.
At least one fan should run with the key on. Granted, the relays and power supply isn't toast.

Should be a grey or black wire IIRC.

 

Splicing into the red/black. Yes, we believe one red/black for each fan.

 

Deadbird's plan sound interesting, but I've never done it before, so I can't describe how the switch looks, and which terminal is the negative

 

It works! You guys are great! Now my husband can come home to me.

 

The fan switch is a switch to ground, it's one wire. Ground it, the relay solenoid grounds (positive power from the fuse block), the contact switches, the fan turns on.

*edit... no matter now apparently lol

 

i'm glad he can drive it, but I hope he didn't hack up the wiring too bad in his nice car, that would be a shame

I've had a car (not a camaro) that I could NOT figure out why the relay woudln't kick on the fan, and I installed a switch inside the car which turned on and off the fan whenever I needed it. Kind of a getto fix, but it worked

 

YOU GUYS ARE AWSOME!!
This is DEF a learning experience! Marking this thread to my favorites!!
Can I print this out & keep it in my Camaro or is that not allowed?

 

just remember, none of this would have worked is he didn't have wires, tools, and a pigtail nut style battery terminal.

Talk about best case scenario for fixing a problem.... everything he needed, he already had!

I still feel bad I didn't know about deadbird's method. I know mine got him going, but I hate that he had to cut into his wires... hopefuly the damage isn't too bad

 

Yea I've got a few Gremlins in my macaroni! I have learned to carry some essentials too--black & red wires from 12 to 8 gauge, splices,fuses,crimper, eyelets,spades,fuse taps,elec tape, small assortment of tools.
I don't have the type switch deadbird mentioned. I have a relay from bat-to-starter-to-manual switch. 185*on 175* off sensor.

 

CrimsonDragon--Your unfortunate circumstance will help some of us. Hoping things get better for ya!!

 

I wouldn't worry about that too much, something like that (cut or splice) is easily repairable with a solder gun and shrink tube.

The fact is, you helped in a pinch.

Just to add some boring trivia, the A/C will only directly switch the fan relay on the TBI cars.
The TPI and v6 calls for the fan only if the A/C system is charged via the fan pressure switch (switch on the A/C hard line). Unplugging this or jumping the plug terminals (year depending) should cause the primary fan to run if the A/C is not charged.

 

Thanks for all the help guys. It all worked for a while then ended up draining the battery and frying the alternator. It was an adventure! Broke down in Hollywood at a Chevorn station around some colorful locals. Crazy Manager with a thick Egyptian accent comes up with a bloody piece of Kleenex stuck in his nostril and offerred to give me a jump. I had Homeless guys drinking peppermint shnapps out of a grocery cart next to the dumpster where I was parked then a carload of wasted kids pulled up next to me, one kid opens his door, pukes and says without missing a beat "Dude tight IROC!". His friend says to him "Whats an IROC?" He starts pointing at the rims and such and tells him all about the car saying "This car is b#d@ss!". I felt like I was in a wacky movie. Truth was, everyone was very nice. It does help though that the IROC looks good and I am 6',260#. It was a slice of life in the concrete jungle. Luckily, we had just upped our AAA membership to the l00 mile towing. Home was 168 miles away by now and it was before midnight. I had the driver drop me off 95 miles in, and since it was now after midnight, it was officially another day so I could use another 100 mile tow.
Anyway, I believe I have tracked down the probem down to an intermittent coolant sensor electrical connection problem where it wasnt sending a signal to turn on the fans. I also need to apply all the basic overheating fixes in the stickies as well.
Thanks again to everyone. It was a great adventure!