When I have the car running, and the AC is on, should the fan be running? I'm 99% sure the answer is YES

What about the key in the ON position?

is there a way to get power to the fan without it running?

 

with the a/c on yes it should be running.

key on no.

yes if you run an exciter wire to the fan relay.

why are you wanting it running all the time.

 

I don't. I just wanted to do a little research before I start replacing things, because mine isn't working anymore

I wanted to see if I could get power to the motor without the engine running so I can get in there with a volt meter

 

You can run a wire from battery pos to the pos wire on the fan, if you just want to test the fan motor. Pos fan motor wire will be black with a red stripe - just disconnect the connector and feed a ground to the solid black wire and 12v+ to the black/red wire to test the fan motor.

You probably have a relay issue, or fan motor issue, if it won't run with the A/C on

 

i know that. I just like also being able to test current on the actual connector.

 

The fan will run with just the key on if the motor is warm enough (or if the fan switch is bad and grounded all the time). And yea the AC should kick the fan on regardless. If you jump the trigger wire on the relay with 12v it should kick the fan on and allow you to check the wiring from the relay to the fan for continuity.

 

With the key on and the AC on, the fan should be running whether or not the engine is running. If that doesn't work you can try grounding the wire going to the fan switch between the #6 and #8 plugs with the key on. If the fan works, the relay and fan are fine, but the fan switch is not. That's the most common problem with single fan failures. You can fix by replacing the fan switch, or as many who are fed up with replacing that switch all too often have done, get an aftermarket controller . Lots of info on those found by doing a search on this forum

 

LOL... I don't have a number 8 plug

V6 car

 

OOPS, I think the V6 fans are operated by the computer, so grounding the green with white stripe wire at the relay should operate the fan with key on if the relay and fan are good. And I guess you don't have a fan switch either. Sounds like bad relay or fan motor

 

I don;t think I do. I also don't think it's operated by the ECM. I think it's strickly the temp sensor, or the AC being on. I'll figure it out, but I'm in no hurry so I wanted to clarify a couple of things before I get out there.

I have a Helm, but sometimes it doesn't speak in plain English for me, so I like to explore other opinions

 

Well Id address the motor issue first, you seem to be missing cylinders # 7 & 8, you might wanna get that fixed one of these days

 

Maybe someday

Right now I like it as is, getting 25 mpg

 

pin d2 on the ecm is the fan control. dark green and white. put poer to this wire and the relay should activate and the fan come on.

 

ok, finally got the time to go out there and look at it. No power to the terminal, so I replaced the relay and it started working again.

I love it when the simplist solution fixes the problem

 

25mpg? My 305 TBI was getting 30 highway before I yanked it out! If your V6 is only getting 25, I'd definitely find and replace that #7 & #8 cylinder!

 

you must have been driving downhill a bunch.

 

No, it's just that the 305 V8 TBI cars got great mileage. I just assumed a V6 car would get at least as good, but maybe not.