Cooling Fan Issue (95 4cyl)

[randomjohnson]

Hey all (and I'm a complete car engine noob; I can build a house or anything made of wood, but a car, no; so bear with me):

1995 Camry, 4 cyl, not the LX.

Here's the situation, background info will follow: My two cooling fans (mounted just behind the radiator) I realized do not operate unless my A/C is on. If I just turn the fan-switch on in the car, the cooling fans stay off, but the second I hit the "A/C" button on the dash, they start up and whir to life.

Background on all this: I was driving a distance (100ish miles) and for an odd reason I wasn't using the A/C for the drive (in Florida, that is an odd reason). When I got off the highway, I hit my first stop light, and noticed the temp-gauge start going up quick into the red (temp gauge otherwise sits about a hair below half-way up on the gauge, always everyday - I'm pretty temperature conscious, so I peak at it every so often when I drive). As I got moving forward looking for a place to pull off into a gas-station, the temp-gauge would go down as I drove forward; but if I stopped, temp gauge would raise fast as all hell.

When I finally got home, rolling into a parking space as fast as I could with the temp gauge skyrocketting, I quick and opened my hood and noticed my cooling fans were not moving at all with the temp gauge about to burst through the roof. Doing a little screwing around under the hood later, I saw that the fans will only come on when I've got the 'A/C' button on, and with the fan switch on (though, when it's on "Low" as opposed to one of the higher settings, the cooling fans will sometimes whir up for a bit and stop).

I don't know if this is important, but when the car is hot (after I've driven around for a while), the coolant level fills all the way to the top of the resevoir with a little bubbling (but sits at the fill-line once the car cools down); don't know if that's just from normal fluid/heat expansion or what, but thought I'd mention it. Coolant color is clear, its normal greenish color; oil is dark, not milky or anything; I'm praying to christ this is no head-gasket nonsense. And, since I've been blasting the A/C all the time in this brutal hot Florida weather, I get the flashing A/C indicator light coming on occaisonally (though, i turn the A/C button to off, and then when I turn it back on a second later, the A/C kicks in fine and cold).

Anyway, I'd be very appreciative of a word if anyone knows what to look for. If you think it's like a busted fuse or something, let me know because I'm handy enough to fix easy things like fuses (i got the driver's/car manual with the fuse listings/locations); I just gotta take it in to a mechanic, otherwise, and I'd like to just tell them what's up and know what I should be hearing for so I don't get nailed $$$$$ or hear some off-the-wall stuff.

[gumbydammit]

Look in the read me (second one down) at the top of the forum.

Go here:
http://www.**********s.com/camry/
Download "eg1.pdf"
Pages 261-267
You will find any answer you need on this issue right there.

If you can do house wiring, you can more than handle this.

[randomjohnson]

Thanks.

I actually was messing with the relays the other night, and this morning I stopped twice on my way to work to take a peek under the hood and see what the fans were up to. They now seemed to be clicking on and off, regardless of forcing them on with the A/C compressor. Tempurature was fine the whole drive.

Not sure if I just jiggled the right relay (maybe just a loose connection?), but I'm going to head over to the autoparts place and see if I can't just get a new relay and replace it myself. I'm hoping someone there'll test the current relay to see if that's the culprit.

I know the fans definitely "work", and a new thermostat/sensor was put in like two months ago, along with the head-gasket tightened down (I've since inherited this car from family after my other car got stolen; car had overheated then, and so those things were all replaced).

Is it normal for the coolant to raise in the resoivoir? Just one of those things I've never stopped to look at, but have noticed now that I've been sticking my head under the hood more frequently.

(Btw, electrical was never my forte; carpentry and plumbing make much more sense to me, hah).

[pigpig]

it's the engine cooling fan relay.

[randomjohnson]

It must have just been loose or something, because ever since I sort of went under the hood and really locked in the relays, I noticed the fan is now kicking on and off when it's supposed to.

I sat in my driveway (well, in front of my apartment) for about 10 minutes after I drove home from the office (15min highway drive); just letting her sit in park and watching the temp and the fans (hood open). The temp would sit just below middle, start to raise just that little bit, and when it would do that the fans would come on for about a minute, then wind down as I would watch the temp gauge slowly sit back at that just-below-half-way mark on the temp gauge.

I know those fans weren't kicking on before, because I remember when the car was overheating that one day taking a peek under the hood before I shut'er down, and those fans were dead still.

Either way, I'm gonna replace the relay later; I can handle the $20 or whatever it is.

No mechanics, no problem.

[pigpig]

so i had a opposite problem.
fan is always on.
the first thing i looked was the relay.
the relay was good when i tested it.
so i think it must be the coolain temp. sensor.
but guess what, it's the relay.
somehow it worked when i tested it, but not when i put it back.

[randomjohnson]

I was just testing my relay; the continuity is there on the correct terminals. Checked my main engine relay too (so asks the big camry engine manual). All looks good.

I figure that I have the same issue as you, in that the relay is just shot; mine looks old, and it's got some corrosion going on it.

My problem is where the hell to find a 20 AMP/ 12 Volt relay , with the right plugs.

Autoparts store here had literally one relay off the shelf, but it's 30 AMPs and isn't the right plug configuration for me.

Searching the internet isn't doing much good for me, either.

Anyone got a good site to pick up the right relays? Might get on the horn to the autostores around here and see what they got.

Take it easy.