Question I realize that you don't normally deal with minivans. however this is the last resort...
I have a 93 town and country and our radiator fan keeps burning out the mechanic finally hardwired the radiator fan to the 30amp slot where the a/c fan fuse is so not they are both running off that same slot and now the a/c fan will not blow at all and my turn signals won't work. I have always had a problem with the radio, sometimes it works and sometimes it don't.
Do you think that I have a short that just now got bad enough to burn out the ac fan. I have checked all the fuses and they are all good. I just had my a/c recharged with freon three days ago. When I pulled up in the drive it smelled like some wires burnt. My radiator fan is not working now either... PLEASE HELP if you can...
I would highly appreciate it...
AnswerHi Kathy,
I thought about your situation some more, and believe I understand what he may have done. There is one radiator fan that operates at two different speeds depending upon cooling requirements. It's power comes from a fusible link which I described earlier. There is a possibility that the problem is not the fan motor but rather the fusible link being blown. Hardwiring the fan power line to a 30 amp fuse that also runs the A/C heater blower is not going to do. The fan may need a 40 amp fuse alone, so sharing a 30 amp fuse is not going to carry the current without blowing. He needs to go back to original circuit and see what resistance the fan circuit is presenting to gray fusible link that is blown. If it is a short, then he needs to find the short, not try to rewire the circuit. The fan motor's two speed settings can be check directly with jumper wires so you can set that matter aside. If you want to try it let me know and I'll tell you how to hook up the fan wires to the battery to do the test.
On the turn signals, please check to see if the hazard lights are also not working, or partially working, the same with the turn signals, and also check the stop lamps to see if they are also not working.
Please tell me which engine and trans you have as well.
Roland
Hi Kathy,
I will do my best to help you solve this problem.
It would be helpful to know which engine (2.5 4cyl, 3.0 6 cyl., or 3.3 6 cyl) and which transmission (manual with clutch, 3 speed automatic which just has a "D" position, or 4 speed electronic automatic which has an "OD" position)?
The fan circuitry is different for those situations. You can look on the underhood sticker for the engine size or it may well say it on the engine.
I can't understand what caused the mechanic to "hardwire the radiator fan to the 30 amp fuse slot". Was the fan relay not working or unreliable or what reason? I believe that there are two separate fans, correct? and now are both not working or only one and if so which one is not working?
Did the mechanic say he hardwired both fans or only one fan and which one if you happen to know. Did the turn signal problem start about the time that this rewiring was done?
I have to say that I don't believe that a short circuit can damage a fan, rather running a fan all the time might damage it in the long run. A short circuit usually will cause a fuse or a circuit breaker or a fusible link to blow or some other switch to burn out, but a fan either runs or it doesn't run and about the only thing that will damage it is having the wrong voltage applied (which is unlikely in an automobile unless the voltage regulator went bad) or it gets some mechanical drag on it that overloads the motor windings.
Basically, one or both of the fans are brought into use when the A/C is off depending upon how hot the engine is running. My shop manual doesn't describe the fan operation when the A/C is running but I suspect that both of them run whenever the A/C is on regardless of the engine temperature. Is that what you have observed when the car was newer and not modified?
The first thing to do is to find out if the fan motors are working or not. Then we can work from there on the remaining portion of the circuitry. To do that testing you will need a couple of jumper wires to run between the battery and the fan motor connector(s). But if you would answer the questions I have asked that would help me in working this out.
Did the mechanic show you where and how he hardwired the fans so that I can understand exactly what has been done?
The main power for the fans does not go thru a fuse but rather thru a resistive wire called a fusible link which will blow when too much current is sent thru it. Then it has to be replaced by splicing and soldering the connections, so the fact that the fuses look o.k. is not the answer. Rather the fusible links that look like colored spaghetti located near the battery, in fact one of the ones that is gray in color may have been blown out so if you can find these links you might try gently pulling on the ones that are gray in color to see if any one of them is mechanically no longer connected at both ends. Why that happened, if it has, is the next question: was it a short circuit, a fan motor drawing too much current, or what?
The hardwiring that was done may make it difficult for me to advise you unless I know what exactly was done.
I have the wiring diagrams which perhaps the mechanic didn't have access to so he improvised a solution that was not appropriate. I would be pleased to copy and snail mail the circuit drawings to you to show to anyone who is going to try to correct this situation.
So if you can answer my questions let's then see what might be done. This is not rocket science, but whoever works on the electrical system needs a circuit diagram and some know how.
Roland
