Keeps blowing Rad Fan Relay

[Archilea]

Everyone,

I have a completely stock 1990 Eclipse turbo, non-AWD. When it got to ~50,000 miles, I had the timing belt changed to prevent catastrophic damage to the engine. About 5000 miles later it slipped the belt and I had a catastrophe.

I replaced the engine with a used one that was imported from Japan. Although the engine looks different, everything seems OK with one exception: When I turn on the air conditioning, the "Rad Fan" relay on the passenger side of the car blows, and the engine overheats.

What would cause the rad fan relay to blow when the A/C is turned on? I'm not talking about the A/C Fan Relay on the driver's side, but the Rad Fan relay on the passenger side...

My mechanic has tried to diagnose it, and has reached the conclusion that the Condenser fan must be bad. Without buyig a new condenser fan and testing it out, I thought I'd see if anyone has any better idea of what could be going on.

I'd like to get this car back on the road, as it's a fun little toy to drive. It's been sitting for quite a while now and I have decided to bring her back to life...As I'm the original owner.

Thanks in advance,
Desi Richards

 

[boostx]

Have you tried applying 12v directly to the fan to see what happen?

 

[Archilea]

So far my mechanic is the one that has done most of the diagnosis.

I jumpered the radiator fan relay posts (Passenger side fuse box) and the radiator fan came on.

If I replace the radiator fan relay with a fresh one, it seems to run just fine until I turn on the A/C, then it never turns on again and eventually the engine overheats. Another $15 for a new relay.

 

[96 tsi awd]

I would try with the car off ( for added safety you could disconnect the negative battery terminal) to spin the fan blades by hand and make sure that they spin freely with no rubbing or grinding sounds. If they spin freely I would try to wire them directly to 12v with a multimeter on the amp setting in line with the power wire. This would tell you if one of them is drawing too many amps.