Stubies Subie Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 (edited) It’s been a hot couple of days out here in the Pacific North West, and the AC in my 91 Loyale blows super cold, that is until it blows a fuse. I also notice at about the same time that the right hand radiator cooling fan also quits working. The drivers side electric cooling fan works fine, (that side was the electric conversion I had done when I had the engine resealed) In the picture below, I circled the two fuses that keep blowing in red, one says “FAN” so I assume this is the fan fuse, the other one says “HEAD RH” and I’m assuming that the right side headlight? Does the AC actually feed through the right side headlight circuit? It’s definitely an electrical problem, of which this car has had a few since I bought it, so if I can't figure it out, I’ll take it in and have it fixed, but it shure would be nice to have working AC in this hot weather, and right now I don’t have the funds to go get it fixed. Edited August 5, 2012 by Stubies Subie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I had this once on another car. The electric cooling fan was going bad. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubies Subie Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 I was thinking that's what it could be, at one point yesterday, I replaced the fuse for the AC and got it working fine and left the fan fuse blown, when I tried to runt he ac, the car would start to over heat, this was while I was on the freeway doing about 60 mph, but once I turned the AC off, the operating temperature would return to normal so maybe it is in the fan, but why would a bad fan cause the AC to blow a fuse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 As the fan heats up, it increases resistance electrically. As the resistance increases it draws more current. If it draws enough current it can blow the fuse. Lets back up. You never mentioned the over heating. Define "start to over heat". Check the Alt output first at 1800 RPM with everything on. Just want a baseline. When was the last time your T stat and cap were replaced. When was the last time the cooling system was serviced. Inspect your radiator see what kind of shape it is in physically. You may have two issues not one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I have a meter that can read the actual amp draw of the fan and what's being drawn off the fuse, etc. Call me and we can test it out, etc. Test first, then replace. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubies Subie Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 (edited) As the fan heats up, it increases resistance electrically. As the resistance increases it draws more current. If it draws enough current it can blow the fuse. Lets back up. You never mentioned the over heating. Define "start to over heat". Check the Alt output first at 1800 RPM with everything on. Just want a baseline. When was the last time your T stat and cap were replaced. When was the last time the cooling system was serviced. Inspect your radiator see what kind of shape it is in physically. You may have two issues not one. normally the car runs about about the 1/3rd mark on the temp gauge in the dash (a little below the half way mark) the cooling system flows well, it's got in line filers to keep the coolant clean and free of debris, never had a hint of cooling system problems at all. it was about 105 degrees out when i noticed the problem, I had the AC going, the temp started to rise to about the 2/3rd position on the in dash temp gauge, I pulled over and looked under the hood and noticed that only the auxiliary fan was running which I thought was not normal, at that point I turned off the ac, rolled down the windows and at 60 miles an hours on the freeway with the auxiliary cooling fan running, the temperature quickly dropped back down to within the normal operating range. The Alternator is fine, it's cranking out like it's supposed to, GD just installed it about 2 months ago, it's one of those Nissan 90 amp alternators. the radiator cap is about 2 months old, the radiator and thermostat were replaced with new ones back in November of last year I was going to take GD up on his offer of checking the fan circuit current draw, but I decided to take a look at the fan first and see if I noticed anything out of the ordinary about it, the fan is froze up solid, and won't turn even by hand which leads me to believe that I got a bad fan, other then that, it looks perfectly normal. a quick search of the internet didn't show any fan replacement options for the loyale other then some aftermarket stuff I saw on ebay. I really don't want to buy a used fan, (kinda like buying used light bulbs) but right now it looks like about my only option is to get one out of a wrecking yard. Edited August 7, 2012 by Stubies Subie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 OK simple (obvious) problem the best. I just like to cover all the potential bases since the car is not in my driveway Check the fan motor shafts for any play as they are not the strongets bearings on the planet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Ed's got a fan for you. And likely a set of wheels also. He will probably bring them with him to the shop tomorrow. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubies Subie Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 OK simple (obvious) problem the best. I just like to cover all the potential bases since the car is not in my driveway Check the fan motor shafts for any play as they are not the strongets bearings on the planet. I really don't understand how a bad fan will cause both those fuses to blow, and cause the AC to quit working, but I've never had a fuse problem before the fan froze up, so I'm sure once I replace the fan, things will be back to normal, I sure do miss the AC, it blew colder then anything I've ever owned, almost to cold, sometimes you had to redirect the vents so it wasn't blowing directly on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubies Subie Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Ed's got a fan for you. And likely a set of wheels also. He will probably bring them with him to the shop tomorrow. GD Oh cool, I'm gonna take tomorrow off work so I can fix the car, I'll call you at lunch tonight and see when I can meet up with ed, will bring cash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 We should take a look at the EA82 fan motor and compare to say... a first gen Legacy fan motor. Might be that it could work with some slight alterations, etc GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubies Subie Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 (edited) We should take a look at the EA82 fan motor and compare to say... a first gen Legacy fan motor. Might be that it could work with some slight alterations, etc GD I'm game to try anything that will push a larger volume of air, I was looking at those aftermarket ones on ebay, and they look like they would push a lot of air in short order. I have to admit, after everything you did to the car with the reseal, new radiator, cooling system filters, auxiliary fan, ect. if there's one thing I can say for that car, it's never had even the slightest hint of a cooling problem, that temp gauge has always run in the low 1/4 percentage of the gauge, while I know that's not the best way to measure the temp, over a period of time, it gives you an idea of what's normal for that particular car and what's not. case in point is the oil pressure gauge, the old one showed no pressure at idle, bumping up to just a tad under half when warmed up and running at freeway speeds, after that sending unit went bad, I put a Bosh unit in it and now it reads right at 1/4 at idle, and about 2/3rds at freeway speeds consistently, which in my mind would be more normal for an oil pressure reading. as it is with the temp readings, in my mind, it read fairly normal, well that is until that darn fan went south. I got a few bugs to still work out but it looks like I'll have a new camping trailer to pull with the old Loyale in about a month or so. Edited August 7, 2012 by Stubies Subie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 The temp gauge itself is just a sanity check - the real indicator of proper cooling system behavior is more than just one gauge reading - the fact that you don't lose coolant, the fact that the fan cycles on and off in response to the temp switch in the radiator, and that gauge reading all work in community to indicate all is right with the world. But its always nice to have a reslly accurate gauge. Easy enough to do a digital gauge with a thermocouple. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubies Subie Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 (edited) The temp gauge itself is just a sanity check - the real indicator of proper cooling system behavior is more than just one gauge reading - the fact that you don't lose coolant, the fact that the fan cycles on and off in response to the temp switch in the radiator, and that gauge reading all work in community to indicate all is right with the world. But its always nice to have a reslly accurate gauge. Easy enough to do a digital gauge with a thermocouple. GD I'm still losing a little coolant, but keeping the overflow full seems to keep the radiator full, so I've been keeping an eye on the over flow, it seems to go through more coolant when it's real hot out then when it's cool, as long as I keep coolant in the overflow, all seems happy and copacetic, during the summer a gallon of coolant can last me 3,000 miles, so it's not losing much, but probably isn't quite normal either. that's part of the little "bugs" I want to work out of it, but need to wait till I have another means of transportation for work before I have this one fixed properly, there no time right now to have the car "down for repairs" I need it for work. I do have the new/used/old pickup coming at the end of the month though, but I'm sure it's probably going to need some work to I'll be able to leave the car with you for a few days to tinker on and works some bugs out once I come up with another way to get to work. Edited August 7, 2012 by Stubies Subie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubies Subie Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 I replaced the fan motor, (thanks GD and Ed) no more blown fuses, and the AC is blowing nice and cold again. simple fix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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