aribop

The relays behind the glove compartment are for the A/C system, not the cooling fans.

Take Pecksters advice and try to isolate the problem by sticking with the cooling fan circuit. One more thing to check: behind the main instrument cluster is one round resistor mounted to the firewall...you can't miss it. That resistor is for the cooling fans. Make sure it is OK and the wiring going to it is not fried.

The '83 uses the old bullet looking fuses, thus no spades. Just ensure the brass contacts where the fuses clip into are not corroded if you want to check fuses, but I don't think that is your problem.

Do you have enough antifreeze/water in the car?
Check connection at the water temp sender on the block.
Check the water temp sender itself...maybe going bad.
Check the thermoswitch mounted to the radiator. Check all connections and grounds.

Good luck!

83 TX 944

Brandon, from what I have been thru this week, I know that you have 2 relays under the kick panel on the passengers side below the glove box. Look up under where your right knee would be. the larger one, 6 prong is definately for the cooling fans when the a/c is activated, the other 4 prong I have no idea. I think it is for the A/C main power. Anyone know?

BTW, on the main relay panel #1 (6 prong cooling fan) is identical to the one under the kick panel on the pass side. Swap the to test if need be.

Jeremy

Aribop is right that the relays under the glove compartment may be only for the A/C. The problem I experienced was that my cooling fans would not work correctly - both would not turn on when I turned on my A/C. At other times one would not turn to high speed. It turned out to be the A/C relay. If you are having intermittent problems and your A/C otherwise works fine - I would recommend keeping it on the bottom of the list of possibilities.

iloveporsches

The A/C is also intermittent. Most of the time, turning the A/C dial doesn't do squat. Still, I would think Porsche wouldn't be completely retarded and the cooling fans would still run without the A/C functioning.

I ordered a new cooling fan relay and a thermofan switch last night.

Jeremy

Then I would move the A/C relay further up on the list of things to check -

aribop

Exactly! I took the A/C out of my early car, the whole unit from the passenger side gone! and the cooling fans still function as they should.

iloveporsches

Speaking of which, I still have the A/C delete kit Larry Parker made about 2 years ago sitting in my garage...

How does the A/C fan switch work? Is it just variable-resistance? I'm thinking that if I can't get this solved quickly, my temporary solution will be to just hard-wire a switch for the fans. Not ideal, but I've got to be able to drive on the highway in traffic.

iloveporsches

Ok, I ended up coming home today and I've had a chance to test some things.

1) The main A/C relay and the cooling fan relays are ok, but the secondary A/C relay (aluminum body, different part number, behind glove box) is bad
2) Fans work when I apply 12V directly.
3) When I short the thermoswitch, it will only work on high speed (keys in ignition). It will not work with the keys out.
4) If I let the car run, the fans won't come on at all. I let it run all the way up to the solid block before driving around and the fans never came on.

Aribop, where is this resistor? Do I have to pull the instrument cluster to get at it?

TheMAXX

Is this it?
I am trying to insert an image so if you see nothing then it didn't work if you see it then it did work.
[IMG]
https://rennlist.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=113877&stc=1[/IMG]

iloveporsches

Slight update:

I just had to drive in the rain for a little while. The A/C switch worked perfectly fine (and it wasn't while I was in the garage this afternoon) and both fans were definitely running in high mode.

I also wanted to mention that I checked and cleaned the grounds near the driver's side headlight.

aribop

MAXX found the resistor.