1989 Celica GT - No A/C condenser fan action -HELP

[JohnbNail]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to Toyota.... Wife found and purchased a 1989 Celica GT...everything is mechanically sound...except that when we took the car into service place to get a/c service done, they charged the system and said that it is fine...(was a few ounces low on freon), but that our condenser fan doesn't seem to kick on when the a/c button is activated on the dash We have the "Push Button" style Automatic a/c. Manual trans, 3sfe 2.0 liter. I have checked voltage at the condenser fan...it is present....jumpered the ground wire to a ground and the fan runs...I swapped the relay out with the regular engine fan relay, which seems to work fine....no good, so I don't think it is a relay issue. Any other ideas? The compressor seems to kick in and work, cycling on and off as usual. Get nice cold air as long as car is moving above 30 mph. I have the tools, no real fear of taking stuff apart, but even though I have a schematic of the a/c system...I find it confusing and daunting. My service place mentioned either the a/c controller or the a/c amplifier may be the culprit. He also mentioned that those parts are no longer available from Toyota.....said there was a way around it to get the condenser fan to fire when the button is pushed on....but wanted $300 for the "no more than 30 minutes to do the wiring". He seemed rather "sharkish" to me....like instead of charging for time, he put a "what's it worth to you to have a/c" hijack price on it.
Does anyone here have some experience with this system and know what the possible solution is?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance...

John

[Bitter]

if you turn the AC on and simply add ground to the ground wire of the fan, does it run? at the motor I mean.

[JohnbNail]

If the fan motor is grounded, regardless of the a/c switch being turned on, as long as the ignition is in the run position, and/or the car is running, the condenser fan turns on....I pulled the ac condenser fan relay and checked for voltage....it is a 5 pin relay...two of the pins have voltage with key on...engine running or not....a/c switch on or not. This appears to be a system that has the control/switching on the ground side.
I have good continuity in both wires going from the relay socket to the fan motor...I have two wires with voltage available....but the relay never trips...have tried swapping the regular fan relay (which appears to work as normally expected...fan kicks on and off (cooling fan, that is) and regardless, the swap of the relays didn't change anything. So I suspect there is a ground completion not being made somewhere at the control end.

John

Originally Posted by Bitter

if you turn the AC on and simply add ground to the ground wire of the fan, does it run? at the motor I mean.