Is my Radiator Fan dead?

[valon24]

I know this is going to sound really newbish and pretty much common sense, but I just need confirmation.

I got a used 99 GS, it overheated and blew out the plastic on the radiator, and the heat that must have been spewing out might also have put a crack in my header. Though that could have been there I suppose, but it's right in front of the hole. Either way, I purchased a new radiator and header, and while taking out the old radiator began to wonder what caused it to overheat/crack/blow/etc.

Before I start wondering if its my water pump (i don't know when that was last replaced, though the belt looks in great condition), I tried to hook up some power to the radiator fans. Positive to blue, negative to black. The lower profile one started spinning right away, but the taller one did not. Is there something special that I'm missing or is that fan just broken?

Also, I believe the taller fan is on the passenger side, is that my ac fan and the working slimmer one is my radiator fan?

 

[chris00326]

If you hotwired your fan and it didnt turn on then the fan is shot.

 

[athlete3344]

I would try to hot wire it again just to be on the safe side as a double check. You may want to consider replacing the thermostat if its a higher mileage car. For the water pump, give it a look, and see if the pulley has any play in the bearing.

How does the timing belt look?

 

[Marchev]

Having too much air in the cooling system will result in the fan not turning on either. But definitely hot wire and that should give you a definite answer on the fan is working or not.

 

[valon24]

Timing belt looks new actually, its clean and all the teeth are in perfect shape. It made me wonder if the water pump was never changed though. I'll have to get under it and remove the plastic plate to take a look at the pulley. I might do that tonight.

If it doesn't have any play, and i don't see anything in the weep hole (not sure that I would since the car hasn't ran in over two weeks). Would I able to put back the radiator and hoses, turn on the car and see if there's anything in the weep hole to see if the water pump was running?

Any suggestions as to where I can buy just the taller/thicker fan without shelling out 100 for an aftermarket one? I don't have access to the classifieds yet =).

 

[athlete3344]

Junkyard/craigslist for a replacement fan if necessary.

To check your pump:
Just replace the coolant in the car, flush it to be on the safe side (you may find a surprise, hopefully its just all green). When youre finished, start the car and 'burp' the upper radiator hose. The top hose is the hot hose, so after the car has started, it should begin to get warm to the touch.

Alternatively, you can just leave the upper radiator hose open and see if the coolant comes flooding out haha.

 

[valon24]

I thought about that to see if the coolant would come rushing out. Maybe if I push the car back out in the driveway.

I do remember when I took off the top hose and looked into it, there was a lot of brown stuff inside, not oil like, more rust like, but I'm not sure. I planned on putting a hose in it and flushing it hopefully tonight.

I called westcoastdsm, It looks like the taller fan would be my ac one and that's the one that wouldn't turn on and they said a slim aftermarket fan would cost me around $25, so that's not too bad.

 

[athlete3344]

Yea thats cheap. Still wouldnt hurt to check a junkyard to get an idea of what kind of parts may be available for future hurry-up-and-fix problems.

Make sure to replace the thermostat. The car overheated for a reason, and its important to find out why. Is the car throwing any codes? If you do a quick search, there should be a thread on how to read diagnostic codes without a diagnostic tool. Some method of turning the car to the on position and recording how many times the CEL blinks.

 

[valon24]

No engine light, I've checked the codes on my 3000gt before by grounding one of the pins underneath the driverside dash. I wonder if the eclipse is the same.

The thermostat was covered in that brown stuff, but it looked fairly new also.

Would it show possible codes without an engine light?

 

[athlete3344]

Worth a shot! Brown coolant doesnt sound good though.

 

[valon24]

I will be flushing the radiator out today, didn't get a chance to do it yet, but I found out why my fan wasn't working.

I removed the fan motor from the housing and pryed the little metal tabs open and opened up the electric fan motor and the positive/negative wires are attached to a bushing that is loaded on a spring. It looks like the bushing is made to wear over time as the center cylinder piece spins against and between the two, and the spring just makes sure that there's continuous contact as it wears. The bushings on both sides have been worn so low that it's near the end of it's use. The springs are nearly fully extended and they were just not making good contact with the cylinder piece. Please don't mind my not knowing the correct names or terms .

Anyhow, I pushed the bushings out a tiny bit, there wasn't much give, and closed up everything, hotwired it and the fan kicked on strong. It doesn't look like my efforts would squeeze much more life out of it, but at least now I know, and now I have to find a fan replacement.

Is it true that aftermarket slim fans do not fit the radiator bolt patterns? I see some places selling spacers that would allow the fit, but even those are pretty spendy for what they are. A replacement fan that looks identical is over 100, and I see some on ebay for 45ish, but who knows how the bushings look on those?!

What would you guys recommend if I wanted to stay under $45 for something that would work adequately??

 

[chris00326]

If you dont want to spend the money on new go to the junk yard. you may or may not get a good one but youll only be out like 5 to 10 bucks.

 

[valon24]

Are radiator fan bolt patterns... similar? Or would I need to find a 2g eclipse one? I looked up the local auto recyclers and they don't have radiator fans for the eclipse at the moment. I'll definitely try the junk yard and see.

 

[athlete3344]

You could always bring it with you as a check. That slim fan isnt a bad option.

Im still a little skeptical of the brown stuff in your coolant, and hope you dont have to worry about more then finding the right radiator. Have you performed a compression test?

 

[valon24]

Have not. Found on googling:
My coolant reservoir liquid has turned brown, first thought is oil, how to tell and what does it mean? - Yahoo! Answers

"When the engine is cold, take the radiator cap off and start the car. Seal the radiator opening with your palm. If you feel a pulsation, it is an indication of a blown head gasket or a compression leak."

Has anyone tried this before? They also mention rust - looking at where the short three way pipe that houses the thermostat connects to the engine, there's a lot of reddish-brown stuff, that if I wipe with a napkin, seems like rust, so that may be definitely be what it is.

I'll see how bad it is when I flush it tonight.

Thanks for the help, athlete.

 

[lasershark]

If you hotwired your fan and it didnt turn on then the fan is shot.

that is the first thing i do speaker wire and some alligator clips simple as that make sure its at least 16g though

 

[valon24]

Flushing out the radiator wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, the water came out pretty clear. The coolant in the overflow bottle was also green...

So I hook everything back up, minus the thermostat and the radiator cap... I thought I would be seeing a flow of water... tells me how little I know, cause it shot up like a geyser (makes a lot of sense in hindsight). I turned the car off, put the thermostat back in and the radiator cap. Turned the car back on, and the belts were squeeling from being wet so I turned it back off again before it had a chance to warm up to operating temps. Then water started to pour out of the overflow tube in the coolant bottle.

Is any of this normal? Could I have a blown head gasket?