Radiator fan not coming on

[YLDCRD]

I have a problem with the radiator fan. It won't come on wen im driving at all.
I've eliminated a few things:
tested fan motor on battery (it works)
put the air con on (both work)

which leaves me with the relay and the fan switch.
Can I take out the defroster or heater relay and put it In the cooling fan slot. Or do all three need to be in when driving ?

Also where Is the fan switch? And how do I test it?

[IEVAQ8]

wat makes u think the thermo should be on whilst driving??????????
i think u might be mistaken,
thermo usually comes on once stationary and no air is cooling the radiator.........hence the water temp rises.............
my thermo never came on whilst driving even with air con on and on 40degree day, and my car was boosted..... (i mean on the rearest occasion the thermo would come on whilst driving...but like 2 times in the 3 years i owned the car

[YLDCRD]

So your fans never came on ? even when you put the air con on? that doesnt sound right...
i always thought that when it gets to a certain temp the fans should turn on?
You talking about the fan right?

Well ive just bought the car and so i just want to be sure it does work. so that if i do come across a very hot day then it wont over heat.
So you reckon it doesnt have to come on whilst driving?

[IEVAQ8]

like i said if i was stationary and the temps got a chance to rise then yes the fans would come on,
but if ur moving and the radiator is getting plenty of air flow, the temps wont reach the fan switch temp to activate the fans............

[YLDCRD]

I understand that.
Ok let me rephrase my situation.
I bought the car couple days ago. just did a coolant change and thermostat. was idling the car for a good 30-45.... fans never came on. Temps got to the middle and stayed there. I took it for a drive (45 mins). Still didnt come on...
So it was stationary for a quite along time...

unless it was still not reaching the specific temp...

[IEVAQ8]

from my knowledge and what i remember, can take ages for fans to come on, when u reach half, that is usually operating temps (open thermostate 78degrees), and for the fans to come on, it must reach 92 degrees (i think) so even idling on a cold day prob wont get u there....lol

maybe try warming up car, taking for a good thrash...lol and then let it idle and see if fans come on...

[espionage85]

sorry to hijack the thread,
but what if the fan turns on real late?
like my temp gauge goes up, and the fan wont kick in till its almost on red hot
thats just sitting on idle

[YLDCRD]

warm up 5 mins every day lol ... try to thrash it most times.
Well it is pretty cold these days.
I jsut tested the relays by swapping them and they work... so it only leaves the fan switch.

Maybe im just being to paranoid about it. I just want it to turn on so i know it works....

[Limbo]

you can short the fan out to see if it works.
But most likely sound like your fan switch is gone

[mnc]

Check if the fans are grounded properly.

[flipfire]

Do the paperclip test first to see if the actual fan is functional, then try driving hard for 10mins and come to a dead stop.

Make sure the temperature switch is set to 'cool' in case you left it in the warm setting when you changed the coolant. The heater core will dissipate the coolant heat if you left it at warm.

Did you check the fan switches surface when changing the thermostat? Gunk can sometimes build up there

[kural7]

i think your just being paranoid dude i purchased my car a month ago and same thing. even after a good 15 minute thrashing fan wont turn on but the car woudn't pass half on temp. i think paranoia just gets to you when you get a new car. you want to know everything runs perfect, btw how do i get a post quality point?

[turbo convert]

YLDCRD any outcome on this?

[YLDCRD]

YLDCRD any outcome on this?

No not yet, havent had the time to go to auto elects.
I swung past one the other day. and he said in this weather its normal if it doesnts turn on. He said it should turn on when the temp rises bit more than operating temp.
But im still skeptical about it.

[ICD]

from what your mentioning in your 1st post i would say temp switch, if it works with a/c then relay should be ok. but at same time i would make sure you get it at operating temp.... if you have done a collant flush in particular it will take a while for the fan to come on(reach activating temp) even if its on half way on the gauge if it goes beyond that and fans have not come on then i would say there is a problem but it sometimes does take for than 30-40 min with the car idling before they work and sitting on half for a while.

[YLDCRD]

OK OK. friday night i was waiting for a mate to come out of house (car was idling for a good 10-15 mins.)
FAN CAME ON FOR ABOUT 10 SECS. SO ALL IS GOOD.
I just had to be patient.

So i guess it will only come on when it really needs to. So during this weather on normal freeway and constant driving it will not come on.

[dancoco808]

i was having exactly the same issue as you, having never ever seen the fan come on in the month or two i've owned the car, even after many sessions of hard driving and with a temp gauge that seems to fluctuate ALOT.

i still haven't fully diagnosed the problem, or if there is one at all? but what i did do recently was wire the fan to be constant on with ignition. besides the noise (which isn't bad at all), is there any disadvantage of having the fan run full-time? it doesn't seem to rob power and seems to provide a nice stream of air towards the intake.

[YLDCRD]

itll probably wear out the fan motor quickly. my temp doesnt flucuate. gets to normal temps fine and runs fine.
i rkn u should get the thermo switch checked out