FW: Fan runs constantly (1989 200 qa)

[Livolsi, Stephane]

I like your attitude - it's the same as mine.  Most folks would say fix the
problem right, but I say why fix it right when you can have waaaay more fun
rewiring....:)

Seriously though, Shaun, it is likely your sensor in the radiator that is
welded shut, or the terminals on the relay under the dash that are welded
together.  IME it is probably the sensor in the radiator.  You can confirm
by listening for a click under the dash when you reattach the battery.  If
there is a click, relay is fine. No click means the relay is suspect.
Easy way to shut the fan off is to pull the plug off the radiator sensor,
but be careful because now the fan won't even come on when it gets hot.  You
should be able to counter this by turning on your AC to activate the rad fan
if the engine is getting hot.  Then get yourself a new sensor - thermoswitch
is what they are called.  I got one recently and I think it was somewhere
between $30 and $60 Canadian.  I can't swear on that as I have bought so
many parts lately.....

HTH

Stephane

> ----------
> From: 	Holman, Scott[SMTP:sholman at ppg.com]
> Sent: 	June 20, 2002 11:15 AM
> To: 	'Shaun Folkerts'; q
> Subject: 	RE: Fan runs constantly (1989 200 qa)
>
> For a temporary solution, you could rewire the fan to run from a switched
> power source rather than a constant power source.
>
> Scott
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shaun Folkerts [mailto:fiatlancia at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 1:51 PM
> To: q
> Subject: Fan runs constantly (1989 200 qa)
>
>
> This figures. The day before I was to drive back east with this car!
> Went out to run some last minute errands yesterday, 107 degrees out, fan
> came on, no problems. Sat with it in the parking lot, opened the hood,
> left car running to cool the turbo and wait for fan to turn off. Half
> hour later, I was melting, battery was near dead, and the fan was still
> running. Gave up and drove back to the hotel. Fan on the whole time.
> Went inside to cool off, came out twenty minutes later, fan still
> running. Eventually pulled the battery cable and gave up for the day.
> This morning, nice and cool outside (relatively speaking, this is
> Nevada). Returned to the car and reattached the battery cable. Damned
> fan still runs constantly!!!
> What can I do to regain control over this F'in' fan, because right now
> it and this car have me by the short hairs.
> Already pulled relays, fuses, etc. that I thought may be related - there
> appears to be no way to kill it without disconnecting the battery. To
> make it worse, I need the fan to work due to the high temperatures out
> here and on the way back to PA, so I can't just go cut the wires - and,
> man, am I tempted!
> Just went outside and tried to run the car a bit, to see if it would
> shut off the fan. Yeah, right.
> Basically, the bottom line is that if the battery is connected, the fan
> runs. Period. What can I do to fix this car (again...sigh...)???
> Thanks.
> Shaun Folkerts
> 1989 200qa
> 1986 4kcsq
>