Quick question for the experienced. The electric fan on the left side of the rad, what triggers it and when?? Must be a temp sensir, right? Is it the one in the center of the engine, that leads go in the middle of one of the belts?
I've been working ironing out some bugs of neglect more than anything else, and found after renewing the trans mount, the mechanical fan was hitting the bottom of the shroud....so I'm after the front motor mounts next. But during this evolution, I had a near overheat situation and thought that before blowing the coolant all over the place, that fan should have come on....right?
Thanks for your thoughts!

Tony

 

Yes. The elec fan is controlled by 2 switches, the temp switch you are referring to plus an a/c switch so the fan will be on all the time when the ac is on or only when temperature conditions are met If ac is off. If you fan works under neither condition then it's likely a bad fan motor, or bad fuse (check that first) but you can double check the motor by jumping the fan wires to make certain.

 

Agreed, although there are some slight differences around this MY. My '92 car only has the temp switch....... the fan does not automatically come on with the A/C.

The other thing to check once you have the fan working is that the run on works..... if you shut off the engine when the fan is running, the fan should run on until the temp goes below the cut off. This can be 2 or 3 minutes depending on conditions. This run on is an important feature because due to heatsoak the engine bay and temps can get extremely hot (hotter than when it was running) just after you shut the engine off.

You can also buy a lower temp switch that comes on at 77deg instead of 82deg just to give you a bit more margin.

The original electric fan is a bit wheezy and doesn't produce much draft, and can easily be replaced by something aftermarket/better but if the rest of your cooling system is top notch, it should be more than capable of keeping the car temps stable

 

Strange. My '92 MY does work with the A/c and thermostat. Its controlled by one of the blue relays. I jumped the wire at the relay to check it was working.


If yours is the facelift heres a link


http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Elec...electrical.pdf


1991 here


http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Elec...Electrical.pdf

 

@Malc

I think there was this debate before..... I clipped the cooling fan diagram out of the electrical guide and attached to this post....... Looking at the diagram, I can't see any way for the A/C to force the fan to come on........ everything appears to go through the temp sensor. I see there is a connection to the A/C circuit, but I can't work out how that wire can make the cooling fan come on, assuming the drawing of the diodes inside the run on relay are correct......

When you say you jumped the wires at the "blue relay" were you referring to the run on unit ? From memory I think it is blue and is on the rail on the drivers side of the engine bay. My car was seriously messed around with before I got it, so it's entirely possible you are right and the fan should come on with the A/C.

 

My '92 also worked with AC and the temp switch when I bought it, but it was proved to have been modified by a previous owner. Originally it should have worked with the temp switch only.

 

@Japthug

Interesting. On my car even with the AC on, as long I am moving, even at low speeds, the fan isnt required to keep the temps down, so I guess its slightly more efficient than having it run all the time. I also have a cut off switch on my car so that I can shut the AC compressor off manually anyway, so mine isnt always running.