89 Camry V-6 Coolant Fan runs constantly

[rhol55]

Unbelievable! First of all thanks a million 88LE for that diagram! I saved it in my file for future reference in case I need it again. I got home this morning and read Frozenrice’s and 88 LE posts and thought later I would go out try what Frozenrice did with the tapping the fan relay. After working all night and the rain coming down I didn’t feel like messing with the problem case sitting out in the driveway till later. Then my dog started it’s "I got to go outside dance" so I let her out and thought since I’m this close I might as well open the hood and hit the relay. I’ll be damn if I didn’t have the same problem as Frozenrice! The fan stayed off! So I guess you and I had the same thing wrong Frozenrice!

Now that I know for sure the relay is the problem and it’s fixed for the time being, I am going to forget buying one just incase this problem is a sparatic one and may be fixed for good now that the points inside the relay are broke free. If it happens again I will know what to look for and go buy the relay.

Good call Frozenrice on bangin that relay!

Thanks to all that put their in put to this thread! Your help has been appreciated a lot!

[JetspeedCamry]

I've had this problem for a while now, my A/C (Fan No. 1) Thermo Fan stayed on all the time. Sometimes it would be ok, and sometimes, regardless, it would just be running.
I removed the relay..gave it a tap and perfect. All fixed! So..looks like these relays "stick" after a while. Going to go to Toyota and check out the cost of a new one.

[frozenrice]

I called a Toyota dealer and it was roughtly $62.00 CDN. Personally I think that's too much, since a normal run of the mill relay is only $10.00 CND.

[jackfrost1031]

a good junkyard should have them for a couple of dollars, or free if you want to shove them in your pockets.

[rhol55]

Hey Frozenrice....I wonder what the insides of those relays look like? I would be tempted to take the cover off and file the points a little to clean them up if it looked like it could be done. My relay is still working like a champ after tapping it free. May be a long time before it sticks again and if it does I know it won't cripple the car since I drove with it that way for several weeks with the fan running. Another thing is the second relay for the A/C that is in the same fuse block. What about trading spots with the relays in the fuse block? The A/C relay doesn't have as much work time on it as the main fan relay and I think they may be the same unit. Anything that works beats the hell out of the prices you got quoted for the parts.

[rhol55]

Hey Jack, is that a relay in your pocket or are you just happy to be in a good junkyard?

[florian]

Hi people. Seems to be a typical issue with those Camries.

I've got a 91 V6 with 340K. Like others, the main cooling fan is always on (when ignition is on). However I've got different results with trying to fix it.

First off, I noticed that the 30A FAN1 fuse was blown. Despite this the fan was running, which should have rung a bell inside my head at this point...

Anyways being a prodding amateur mechanic I tried all of the below...
- bridging the fan switch
- replacing the fuse
- testing the fan relay (which tested Always On as it should according to the wiring diagrams)
- bridging the relay contacts
- running without the relay

In all case the fan would still run ( something I should have infered from the fact the fuse was blown). I see two possibilities : either there's a short somewhere, or one of the A/C fan relay is stuck (but then the A/C fan would run..). So maybe the always-on fan are not always switch- or relay- related. Any ideas on where I should look for such a short - unless you think my initial disagnostic is dubious?

Also, I had thrice previously instances of the following scenario when trying to cold start :
when turning the key to START, a click is heard inside the engine and everything shuts down (no lights at all). Subsequent retries yield nothing at all (not even the warning lights light up, car dead). Waiting a bit restores the warning lights and either lead to more click-dead or to a clean start. This looks like a short and protection relay kicking in. This may very well be linked.

[stockrex]

my wifes 2000 honda accord had the same problem

after keeping the car for 2 days the dealership figured it out.

Bad fan relay, if you shake it, it sounds like that there is a dime inside it.

that fixed it.

[atobe]

replace the relay

[florian]

Originally Posted by atobe

replace the relay

But the relays test good and all clickety. In any case it still spin constantly even with the FAN1 fuse AND the CDS fan itself removed (but not with the CDS fan fuse removed). Check the diagram and you'll see that it does not make much sense?