No Cooling Fans (!)

[arjay8]

Hi All,

'89 Camry 2VZ-FE

The cooling fans don't turn on. I live on the north coast of California and the car never heats up but I took it inland a ways and it did. No fans. And if I'm not mistaken, the fans should be on whenever the a/c is on and they're not. I've checked the fans, switches and relays as best I can and got all the way back to the 30A fusible link that powers the whole fan circuit and the f/l has no power on either side, ign switch on or off. Seems like a clue but I don't know what to look at next.

Anyone out there have a better diagram and a plan of attack? How or why is the f/l dead?

TIA

[Tommy]

na, fans dont turn on with the A/C, they turn on when the car gets hot. If something is malfunctioning, there is a fan temp switch on the radiator/fans that controlls the whole mess, not hard to find or replace.

[Doctor J]

Are the fans turning on when the egine reaches its operational temperature?

[arjay8]

No, no fans at all. It's never hot enough around here for the engine to overheat so I didn't even know there was a problem until I took the car "over the hill" and the gauge indicated that it was heating up but no fans. And I can't figure out how to force them to come on. I've connected the fan plug to a battery charger and it came on (the easiest on to get to) so the fan itself (passenger side at least) is working.

When I connect a light to either of the thermal switches' plugs (one up near the manifold, one down at the lower rad hose), I can hear a relay click but nothing happens. And the light doesn't go on.

[Doctor J]

The fan switch is located on the thermostat housing above the crank pulley. Unplug the connector. Turn ignition on (do not start the engine). If fans are on now , replace the fan switch. If they still off, substitute fan relay with known good one.

[arjay8]

Okay. I unplugged the fan switch, ignition sw on, no fans. With the key on, when I plug/unplug the fan switch, the fan relays (#1 & #2) click. I pulled the 30A fusible link in the fuse box under the hood that has the relays in it and there is no power to the 30A fusible link (s) (either on in that fuse box.) When I pull the #1 relay, there is only power in one slot when the switch activates that relay. So the relay has nothing to relay. Where does the power for the fan circuit come from?

[WVcamry3sfe]

make sure your fan motors aren't burned out! Try running power directly from the battery to the fans to make sure the motors on the fans themselves work still!

[arjay8]

Fans tested okay.

[88 LE]

Originally Posted by arjay8

Where does the power for the fan circuit come from?

It comes from several places.

30A FL CDS FAN
7.5A IGN
30A FL RDI FAN

The above are all fuses.


I'm not even going to try to explain how the circuit works. Download the electrical manual from the link below and go through the radiator fan and air conditioner section.

http://oregonstate.edu/~tongt/camry/90/index.html

^ Look for electrical wiring diagrams.

[arjay8]

Neither of those 30A fuses have power. Thanks for the link to the online manual. Very helpful!

[arjay8]

I found it! The wiring diagram that 88LE directed me to showed that the 30A fuse was powered by the Engine Main Relay. I took it out, unplugged the temp switch (per Doctor J), jumped the connections in the fuse block (the circuit the Eng Main Relay should be closing), turned the key and the fans fanned! So, being fearless (especially when I know I can always just replace it) I opened the relay, tested it with the VOM and 12V battery charger, sure enough, remains opened when energized. I filed the contact and bent the arm and, voila!, it now relays as designed. I'll buy a new one when I get a chance but for now, we're cool (get it?)!!

Thanks to all!