I bought an 86 ta 305 TPI that needs some work... Anyone know of a reason that I have a switch on the dash that I have to manually turn the fan on and off with. Id really like to find out if its supposed to be tied into a temp sensor somewhere and correctly fix this issue. thanks

 

Could be a dead sensor or a sensor override, caused a previous owner to put in a switch.

 

Any idea where this would be located? If I take it in to a shop, are they just going to laugh and tell me that i'm S.O.L.

 

Thermal switch is in the pass cyl head between #6 and #8 primaries. It looks like a knock sensor

These switches burn out often and eventually the owner may just override it. I know I did. Hopefully the PO put the switch on the ground leg of the relay so the system works as it should, just with a different trigger. Often a PO will ignore the relay and tap the main power wires which will quickly melt a switch and burn up a fan motor

 

I assume he tapped in the power wire. There is a white wire that runs all over the engine bay and a cheap 2 way toggle switch with wires hangin out. You have to manually turn it off or it will continue running with the car turned off.

 

If you have the single fan, here's how it's originally set up. https://www.thirdgen.org/electric_co...pec_mod_single
You can either return it to stock operation or put in a switch the right way. Do a search on here or the cooling board for alternatives

 

ok, was the car used for racing. cause at the track alot of racers will do that so they can turn on their fan and cool the engine between passes