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No Radiator Cooling Fan??

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S

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Okay, I have an issue with my cooling fan on the radiator. I have a 1993 Del Sol Si with the D16Z6 motor. It is a manual transmission and does not have A/C (from the factory.) I have changed out all the sensors connected to the cooling system. There are three of them. I have replaced the radiator and cap. I have replaced all of the hoses and hose clamps. I checked the cooling fan by running 12volt current through it and it spins. When I hooked everything up to the motor and got the engine up to temperature....nothing. I waited a good 10 minutes. Nothing. No fan at all. I swapped the relay for the cooling fan for the defroster relay and that didn't help. I hear what sounds like a switch clicking and the motors slows a bit....but the fan just stays still.

Any ideas?

I am stuck:(
 
Darkness

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#3 ·
shailoche said:
Okay, I have an issue with my cooling fan on the radiator. I have a 1993 Del Sol Si with the D16Z6 motor. It is a manual transmission and does not have A/C (from the factory.) I have changed out all the sensors connected to the cooling system. There are three of them. I have replaced the radiator and cap. I have replaced all of the hoses and hose clamps. I checked the cooling fan by running 12volt current through it and it spins. When I hooked everything up to the motor and got the engine up to temperature....nothing. I waited a good 10 minutes. Nothing. No fan at all. I swapped the relay for the cooling fan for the defroster relay and that didn't help. I hear what sounds like a switch clicking and the motors slows a bit....but the fan just stays still.

Any ideas?

I am stuck:(
Click to expand...
on my old cavalier the fan never ran ever until i blew my water pump and the coolant temp skyrocketed. did you check your thermostat?
 
Darkness

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#5 ·
shailoche said:
I replaced the thermostat too. All with Honda OEM parts. Could the waterpump prevent the cooling fan from coming on?
Click to expand...
no. the fan should be temp activated. maybe your car isn't getting hot enough to activate the fan. like i said my cavy never ran the fan at all until i blew the water pump and the coolant temps skyrocketed
 
S

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Discussion Starter · #6 ·
It seems to be getting plenty hot enough. The radiator fluid I spilled on the engine started to evaporate and steam off. The coolant temperature gauge shows that it is very hot....not all the way to the highest mark on the gauge but still way hot. I even ran around the block and it never came on.

The other thing that is happening is the CEL. I think it is code 6 which is the temperature switch. But I just replaced that too....so, I am at a loss. Is it time to go to the dealer?
 
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Discussion Starter · #8 ·
I know...totally possible to crack the head or even the block if it is overheated. I just can't figure it out. I thought if I replaced the relays and the temperature sender, fan switch, etc that it would all be okay. I am wondering if there is a short or some sort of electrical problem in the harness that is keeping the sender from doing its job. It doesn't seem to be relay related since I have switched them out for known good parts. Even still, if it was a relay I wouldn't get a CEL. The CEL is telling me that the sender is bad...but it is new...maybe I got a bad one...I am thinking the only way to know for sure is to take it to a dealer and have them do a diagnostic. I just don't want to spend the money on their labor and parts. Then again if they tell me what is wrong then I can buy the parts and have them put them in. SHIT!

I don't want to overheat the thing and ruin my entire engine. Could it be the engine harness?
 
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Discussion Starter · #9 ·
My other thought is that the ECU is bad. Could a bad ECU cause the temperature sender to malfunction in this way? I mean every other part of my engine is working fine. It turns over, runs, sounds normal. I just can't get the damned cooling fan to start.

Is it possible that even though the fan moves when direct current is applied that the fan is bad? I don't think so since I still have the CEL. Any ideas?
 
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Discussion Starter · #10 ·
Well I sucked it up and took the damn car to the dealer. They were pretty cool about it and didn't charge me to check the codes and run a couple of diagnostics. At first glance the dealer said the cooling system appeared to be operating ok. He didn't have time to watch the fan turn on but he said the codes stored in the ECU weren't related to the cooling system.

Turns out the ECU was throwing a code for the oxygen sensor. He was going to let the engine run and see if the fan ever came on.

HE said on these motors that the fan does not necessarily cycle on if the engine never reaches a high enough temperature. Is that actually true? Can the engine run for extended periods of time without cycling the cooling fan? Is the system that efficient?

I had not considered that the fan might not be coming on due to the fact that the motor was running cool enough without it. I mean the temperature gauge never went much beyond the middle marker. I thought that was more than hot enough to turn the fan on but maybe it isn't. Does anyone know?

Also, can the fan physically work and still not cycle on? I checked the fan by connecting a 12 volt source to it and the blades started turning. The mechanic at Honda said that sometimes the fans will run with direct current but not off of the current the motor is producing. Sounds fishy to me...what do you guys think?
 
S

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Discussion Starter · #12 ·
Yes, I replaced all 3 of the sensors related to the cooling system. One sends the temperature to the gauge cluster, one to the cooling fan, and another one on the engine block that I have no idea what it does. They are all new.

The fan never comes on, at least not when I am watching the engine. When I drove it to the dealership the needle never went past the middle of the gauge and the car drove fine. Maybe I am just crazy, but I thought the damn thing cycled on and off. But maybe I am not reaching high enough temps on the engine to see it work. I am just worried that I'll be running along and then WHAM my shit breaks and I have a cracked head or block.
 
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