hey guys! i figured i'd run this idea by ya'll and see what ya'll thought. i have a '89 IROC and i have had cooling problems. well, i wanted the fans to have an "override" switch (i.e.-keep factory control intact with a way to also control the secondary myself in heated situations) so i came up with a novel idea. i don't use my fog lights so i removed them for added flow and wired (no cobbling, just a added wire to make it work when the lights are off) the fan (secondary) to the FOG LIGHT SWITCH!! now it is a factory look and a answer to the overheating situation...i will post more details later if anyone's interested...


Josh

 

Cool. That's what I was planning on doing. Did you just run the wire to the ground wire on the fan relay?

 

no, the relay gets its ground off positives from the headlight relay, very wierd! so all we (my friend and I) did was take the fog light switch out of the dash, clip the brown wire (that's the one that's energized when you turn on the parking lights) and install a wire to energize it (this is the detail we are still working out-we are everntually going to run a wire through the car and run it off the alternator resistor circuit, one of the strongest in the car and ignition controlled, but as for now it is run from the "bat" tap in the fuse box) and take one of your fog light plugs (the one on the pass side) clip the plug off, and wire the power side into the red/black side of the relay plug (this will energize the fan) and then splice it back as it originally was (you will now have a "tee" with the wires) and since the secondary fan is sensor controlled and the ECM has no input on it you won't take a chance "wiggin out" the ECM. and this way doesn't energize the relay so you won't disturb it either.



now, i just need a label to make it look like a FACTORY fan switch!!


Josh

 

i used the defrost switch. ran a wire from the switch to a relay, and the relay turns on the fan. works good

 

yea, i coulda used that one too, as my rear defrost don't work, but i just used the fog light switch...works the same, just different color light...


Josh

 

i'd go with the defrost, then you can still use your fog lights.

 

cool, i use my foglights and defroster sometimes, so i just wired in a new little toggle switch and i can turn my passengers fan on and off when the car is on. just spliced into the fan switch wire after the relay real simply and great for the track to keep the temps down.

switches are cool

 

Okay, so I want to make my single fan come on when the key is on. It is running off a fan switch in the head. Can I just run a wire from a hot on the fuse block to the relay? Or would this fry the relay?

 

It may not fry the relay but it will spark at the fuse block everytime you start the car and will eventually eat that portion of the block away. Not to mention your wire as well. You at least need a fusible link. I had mine rigged up the way your asking before I put a switch in my car. Now I have one wire from the switch going to the relay and the other going to the battery with a fusible 30 amp link ( between the switch and the battery). I can post a pic of where I put my switch as soon as I get a chance. You would never notice it if I told you to find it. It looks like it is part of the interior. The only down side to a switch is forgetting to turn it on. I havent had a problem so far.

 

Well I was thinking about al this, and relized that since the relay is the thing that actually energizes the fan, the the single wire must be a ground to complete the circuit. Along these thoughts, I had the insane idea to just ground out the connector to see what it would do. Well with KOEO, the fan came on. So then I tried KOER and that worked as well. So I just clipped the connector, and put it to ground for the time being. Car hasn't gotten over 160º, even with A/C on hi-max.
I will definetely have to rig up a switch, or get a lower temp fan switch before winter though

 

you mentioned the relay gets its power from the headlight switch, that is because if your foglights are on, and u switch to highbeam, it will disable the foglights while highbeams are on

 

heres the pic I promised of where I put my fan switch. When I asked a few people to try and locate it, they never noticed it was there. I just measured the back of the switch and then dremeled the hole and snapped it in place. That panel is not used for anything so thats where I put it.

 

If you want your fan to run all the time, in some cars you can just unplug the AC pressure switch down by the frame on the passenger side. Other cars you'll have to unplug it and put a jumper wire across the two terminals in the wire socket. Some switches are NC, some are NO. This pressure switch is on the high pressure AC line.

 

ok i have a question...i will say right now i now nothing about wiring and all that good stuff but i wanted to do that and hook it up to my defrost switch because i have a vert and found the switch shoved up into the dash...im pretty much asking where do i start, what wire do i hook what other wire up to.

 

I should run mine off of the Performance Sound System switch. You know..the switch that kicks the 4" subs in the back on. Yeah that would be sweet. Use the volume control to control how fast the fan will spin.