Type 44 Radiator Fans -- Fuse them or lose them (plus other melted parts)

[Tim King]

Hi All -- I've been off list for a number of years but thought I'd better hop back on to share this warning....

I recently had the dreaded seized radiator fan and subsequent wiring harness meltdown. I always _planned_ on putting in the fusible line (as recommended in so many places like http://www.audifans.com/archives/1997/12/msg02726.html and http://www.sjmautotechnik.com/TROUBLE_SHOOTING/cooling.html#fuse), but for some reason, never got around to it. I think after a while, I just convinced myself I had done it. Well, I hadn't. 

As far as I know, the fan gave no warning squeaks, etc.. it just went, taking at least a chunk of the main harness with it.

I'm in the middle of trying to assess the damage. The fan is a total charred loss. It may have saved me by burning up internally pretty quickly and stopping the current draw.

I've cut into the harness and it looks like it's mostly only the fan ground and power wires from the fan up -- at least as far as I can get to. I'm sort of stuck at the area under the abs unit bracket. That bracket is really beefy. Why? I've removed the ABS unit, but still the bracket is in the way. I'm almost temped to cut it to give me access to the harness.

I'm holding out hope that the ground wires are torched up to where they go into the main harness (under the bracket), for about an inch, then make a turn to the front of the van and exit where they are grounded to the frame. The exited grounds are torched, and I'm hoping the damage is limited here and to maybe the inch of crossed main harness (a fellow can dream right?) The various sender wires that run next to the ground from the radiator fan on are in surprisingly good shape, so I'm hopeful (there's that word again), the rest of the harness fares as well.

Anyone have any repair tips? The archives are filled with warnings, but nothing really on repair.Assuming the harness isn't a total loss, I should be able to handle the wiring splicing (especially after the suby-vanagon conversion project). However access to the harness at the ABS bracket has me stumped. I guess I could pull one end of the thing and work from there, but if turns out it's only a couple wires, I'd like to avoid that.

Even if you don't have any tips, if you have a type 44, go out there and check to make sure it's fused. I'll wait....Back already? Is it done? Yes, good for you. No? You better get this thing fixed. It'll only take a hour of your time, tops, and save you lots of grief down the road.

I'll take leads on cheap working fans and resister packs, too.

See ya.

Tim in Seattle
89 200tqw
87 syncro westy suby 2.5 project