39rovercj7

So my Girlfriend has a 89 944 Turbo S and it's awesome. I decided to get an 87 944 N/A for doing some auto cross and just something to drive around that gets more than my 11 mpg 94 Land Rover. The issue;

It ran great for about 2 months and had no issues except for the loose shifter. One day the temp starts creeping up... I wasn't too far from home so I let it cool down and I drove home and let it chill while I did some research. I do live in Florida and it was 115 that day. I opted for the 160 degree Wahler Thermostat and the 160 degree Thermo fan switch. Once the parts came in I got ready and took the fan assembly out and I noticed something weird..... The radiator is bent... And the drivers side fan motor was trashed... and the fan blades had worn away at the housing because of the compressed plastic on the drivers side. The previous owner had run into a curb and trashed the cooling system...

I ordered a used radiator and fan assembly and installed the low temp thermostat and switch. Now here's my problem; the Drivers side fan still does not operate. Also now my temperature gauge bounces up and down repeatedly from the second line to the third line when the thermostat opens. Not slowly, like an electrical glitch. And then my fans didn't shut off after I turned the engine off and had to disconnect the battery to turn them off. I took the 160degree Thermo Fan Switch out and reinstalled the original one from the bent radiator. The passenger fan comes on right before it hits the third line but still no driver's side fan. Even with the AC on the Drivers side fan will not come on. The guy I bought the fans/radiator from had a video of both fans running before I purchased it, unless it was switched...

Questions;

1. Is it a bad relay?
2. Why is my temp gauge twitching?
3. How do I make sure the Drivers fan actually works?
4. Help?

931guru

Or not...

39rovercj7

I'm more of a "DIY" type of person... When I brought my first Land Rover engine to the machine shop they looked at me asked "Why not rebuild a Ferrari?" but I don't give up. I haven't been to a mechanic in the last 10 years, I'm sure you're friend is good but I can't live without figuring this out with a small bit of advice. I'm sure this is a simple issue, Im going to re-bleed the system and if nothing else I am not apposed to adding a switch to the dash that would activate both fans and guarantee an active fan set but I would like to keep this car original. Any advice to check the electrical system is absolutely appreciated. Or maybe there is an old thread I haven't found through google?

mel_t_vin

1. Could be a) bad fan switch, b) bad fan relay, c) bad fan, or d) bad wiring.
2. Probably [unwanted] resistance in the 30+ year old wiring/connectors...start by cleaning all chassis grounds.
3. Put 12v to the fan spades...one is low speed, one is high speed, and one is ground [middle?].

39rovercj7

Oh boy, Do I feel foolish. After much cussing and head scratching, after I switched the fan wires and found out that both fan do work I got frustrated to the point where I was swapping parts out with my girlfriend's 944 turbo just to see if it would work. Swapped the relay, thermo fan switch, and checked all the grounds. It never occurred to me that there are individual fuses for EACH FAN. I didn't notice until I was holding the fuse box cover with my girlfriend's relay in my hand that it said COOLING FAN 1 and COOLING FAN 2 on spots 1 and 10 respectively... I checked #1---good. I checked fan #2---Fire.... I replaced the $.10 fuse and kicked my own butt all the way to Germany. It made perfect sense, the previous fan set was pinched into the housing and wouldn't turn therefore blowing the fuse...

I'm used to working on trucks and antiques, not fancy race cars with dual multispeed fans. You learn something new everyday!

V2Rocket