stiofan 0 Posted August 15, 2006 hey there, I changed radiator in my 1.6 four years ago, I have reason to believe the cooling fan has never worked since. When should it kick in? Maybe I didnt put the sensor back on close enough to Rad as the stupid clip went awol. Anyway, any suggestions to test it would be much appreecee8d ! thnks, steve Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ashnicholls Posted August 15, 2006 Dont see any reason why you cant just link it up to battery. Thats what I am going to do because I dont think my fan is working in my new engine. Cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stiofan 0 Posted August 15, 2006 Dont see any reason why you cant just link it up to battery. Thats what I am going to do because I dont think my fan is working in my new engine. Cheers thanks mate, The main reason would be because i wouldnt know how to! Would that mean the fan would be on all the time? thanks steve Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve@cornwall 100 Posted August 15, 2006 hey there, I changed radiator in my 1.6 four years ago, I have reason to believe the cooling fan has never worked since. When should it kick in? Maybe I didnt put the sensor back on close enough to Rad as the stupid clip went awol. Anyway, any suggestions to test it would be much appreecee8d ! thnks, steve quick test to see if the fan motor itself works is to put a wire from the live of the battery to either one of the wires thst clip to the relay that was clipped to the rad- each wire is live for both speeds of fan- won't tell you if the sensor circuit is working though! (sensor screwed into rad, relay behind pass. headlight (often fcuked) and the relay already mentioned) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ALEX 98 1 Cars Posted August 15, 2006 (edited) The sensor for the fan is screwed into the top right hand side of the radiator. (Looking at the front of the car). There is a three pin connector plugged onto it. Unplug it and using a piece of wire short one of the lives (one is 12v the other is about 6v for half fan speed) with the earth conection in the plug. Use a multimeter to find which one is the earth, or just guess, but if you connect the two lives up you'll blow a fuse. If the fan spins but doesn't when the engine is fully hot then the swich in the rad is broken. If it doesn't spin then it's a wiring fault. Edited August 15, 2006 by ALEX Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ren 0 Posted August 16, 2006 Also check your earth block is clean and making good contact, this is bolted to the front of the car between the rad and passenger headlight, usually in a plastic sleeve. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ashnicholls Posted August 16, 2006 I just wired mine up to the battery and it didnt spin, whereas my other fan did. Quick and simply test telling me I need a new fan. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pug_ham 244 3 Cars Posted August 16, 2006 I just wired mine up to the battery and it didnt spin, This only tests the fan works though & could give a false result. If the rad fan switch is dead the fan could still work when wired directly but not through the fan switch. The plug for the radiator sensor can be either three seperate wires on earlier cars or a blue three pin plug. There is also usually a brown plug withthree wires in that also connects to the fan & with a piece of wire fromt he nmiddle pin to either of the side pins it'llrun the fans either on high or low speed. When you replaced the rad did you run the engien until the fans cut in afterwards or not? This is the usual procedure which also gets any small air pockets out of the system. The pointer will be in the upper part of the guage to the right of it when the fan cuts in. Graham. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rob_the_Sparky 9 Posted August 16, 2006 Use a multimeter to find which one is the earth, or just guess, but if you connect the two lives up you'll blow a fuse. Wrong, connect the two lives together and nothing happens, they are actually both 12V feeds but one goes via a big resistor. You just connect 12V to 12V if you connect them together. Done it many times to check fans, just connect them together a pair at a time, one combination will do nothing, one is high speed and one is low speed. This tests the fans and all the associated wiring (unlike the technique of using a feed from the battery that only tests the fans and the earth connection. If the fans are not working you then know that the switch on the rad is at fault. Personally I think it pretty dumb to idle the engine and wait for the fans to kick in. If they don't then you are quite likely to blow a head gasket (been there, done that) so really not worth doing unless you are confident they are going to work. Rob P.S. Gauges vary a bit and mine had boiled by the time it reached the temperature in the piccy below (blowing an HG in the process). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ALEX 98 1 Cars Posted August 18, 2006 (edited) Wrong, connect the two lives together and nothing happens, they are actually both 12V feeds but one goes via a big resistor. You just connect 12V to 12V if you connect them together. Just checked the wiring diagram and only one of the connections should be live 12volts , the other two should be earth, one is a circuit to the fan via a resistor the other gose direct to the fan. I must be thinking of something else, (the headlight circuit maybe, (uses same kind of resistor)). By jaming the wires in there anyway is a quick test for your fan and wiring. Edited August 18, 2006 by ALEX Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
