aplcr944S2

And it has drained my battery. When I am looking down into the engine at the cooling fans. The one on the left (passenger side) keeps running. If I turn my lights on to position one it turns off. Weird...Anyway now my battery is dead and I cannot figure out how to get the fan to quit going. Any suggestions?

It's a 1989 S2 if that makes any difference.

Cory

Dynamite 76

There is a thermo relay switch at the bottom of the radiator. Had mine replaced, but you might just get under there and remove and clean it, see if that works for a while, but would still plan on replacing it.

jbrill

yep, happened to my s2 aswell, cleaned mine up and it wokrs great!

aplcr944S2

I think I can see it from up above. Am I able to disconnect and clean this from above at all? Looks like I need to get down below the car to do this. I do not have jack stands.

I'll check Clark's in the morning...

Cory

Dynamite 76

Go to Wally world or K-Mart, etc. and get some Rino Ramps.

V2Rocket

Let the battery stay dead and it will never run again.

Or just unplug the fan and ziptie the cable out of the way lol...that's what I did to my car because the bearing on my right-hand fan is shot and it makes noise. The other fan runs fine at cooling the car; I've never gotten past mid-temp and I take every chance I get to stretch my legs.

course that might have to do with the new waterpump, new radiator , new thermostat, new everything that touches water...

jpk

It's probably a stuck fan relay.

Mouthpiece

It sounds like the thermo relay switch as that was the same thing that happened to me. I replaced it from underneath the car. If you're going to go through the trouble of pulling it, I would put in a new switch instead of just cleaning it off. It's already given you problems once, a new one doesn't cost much and you don't have to drain the radiator as you won't lose too much coolant by making a quick switch.

AlpharettaRK

It does sound like the switch in the radiator to me. I put off doing mine because I couldn't get a wrench on it nor did I have a big enough/deep enough socket. Since it's a race car I just pulled the main kill switch to shut it off. Turns out it's not really in there that tight, a pair of channel lock pliers was plenty stout to get it out and the new one back in.

Cheers
Randy

aplcr944S2

So I took out the fuses for both fans last night. Charged the battery up and drove it down to get the emissions tested. While I was testing for the emissions, the temp went way up. Warning light came on. I drove home and the temp dropped down as I drove. Once I got back home I replaced both fuses and the fans are not turning when I turn the car off! Looking on Clark's it says to empty the radiator to work on the relay switch. Good grief. Hmmmm...I will be taking the car in to the mechanic soon I guess I had better add this little tidbit to the list as well. Seems to be working OK now though.




Cory

GTSilver944

You can get jackstands or ramps for about $20. It's possible to take out and replace the switch without emptying the radiator, it will just leak a bit out on you when you do it. Changing the radiator fluid isn't that big of a deal though, take off the resivoire cap and loosen the drain plug with pliers, have two gallon jugs to catch the fluid. The switch in the radiator requires a very deep socket, I had to borrow one for mine, due to the fact that the plug ends stick out of it. Also, though very unlikely, just try unplugging and plugging the wires on the fans or flipping the AC on then off.

By the way, where do you live in Spokompton? I used to live on the South Hill...

GTSilver944

Oh, and if you buy a new switch, you can just bend the plugs inward on the old switch to give you more room to take it out.

aplcr944S2

I live on the North side in the Indian Trail area. Not too many 944 owners around here

Project 951

had the same problem with my old N/A. It's the fan relay sensor that tells the fan to come on. You'll need a cresent wrench, 50 bucks and a bucket to drain the coolant

TheMAXX

It sounds like the thermal switch in the radiator. I think the socket that I bought to take it out cost more then the switch when mine went. I didn’t drain the radiator when I did mine; I only lost a small amount of coolant. When these thermal switches fail they have a tendency to intermittently act up before failing completely. On my car a 84 if the fans are running and you unplug the thermal switch at the radiator and the fans turn off, then it is definitely the thermal switch in the radiator. If they stay on it is most likely a stuck relay.

My radiator (84) and I think all of the stock ones have plastic side tanks where the thermal switch is screwed into. Be careful they can crack easily. I was very careful and about a year later the radiator started to leak at the switch and it turned out to be cracked.

Also any time that you disturb the coolant level you need to be sure to properly bleed the cooling system. And it can be a real pain sometimes to get all of the air out.