Skylar Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Electric fan does not come on in my 87 Rx. I wired it to the battery to drive it home, then cut & spliced the plugs for it from a JY car. Fan didn't come on, so I checked the fuse, blown. If I unplug the thermoswitch and turn the key over it doesn't blow a fuse. I believe the car had AC at one point because it has the relays and fuse on the passenger strut tower and the plugs are still there for it in the intake harness. If I plug the green test connectors in and turn the key over I can hear the relays clicking. Do I.need to remove the fuse at the strut tower? Tried grabbing a thermoswitch at the JY today but they were all a different connection. Mine has the two spade connectors on the end of the thermoswitch, not the one with the two wires that go to a blue plug. Only had the car for a couple months and its a blast to drive but I won't continue to drive it without an operating fan, we all know what these ea82ts are notorious for... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Update, tried bypassing the connection for the thermoswitch by bending one prong of a 15A fuse so it's perpendicular to the other and stuck it in the connection, it pops the fuse for the fan in the fuse box and the fuse I'm trying to bypass it with to see if the fan will kick on. I took my volt meter and I'm bouncing around from 11.3 to 12.1 with key on power. I also pulled the fuse for the AC that is on the passenger strut tower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Sounds like the motor is drawing more than 15 amps. Does it spin freely? I would not expect the thermo switch to go bad in a way that would blow fuses. I do not have an RX, or a turbo, so I cannot be more specific. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 I just tried a voltage drop across the motor. 12.3 at the battery. 0.00 on both sides, terminal t clamp, Showing no drop. The electric fan does spin freely. The mechanical fan that was on the water pump is now gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihscout54 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Sounds like there has been some mods done to this system. I have no idea if your cars fan system is like the EA81s, but if it is the fan switch closes the ground for the fan. The fan probably always has 12v going to it from that fuse that keeps blowing. Might make sure its hooked up correct. Since this is such an important device Ide just rewire the circuit. Give the fan/fans their own dedicated cuircuit take the + right off the battery and the ground from somehwere beefy. Use relays and have the thermoswitch control the ground to the relays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 By putting a fuse in the connection for the thermo switch, you basically created a dead short to ground. As stated, fused ignition power is fed to the fan motor, fan ground then goes to the thermo switch and makes the ground circuit complete to operate fan. I would run a fused power wire straight from the battery to the fan motor, also running a ground wire, just to test out the fan motor itself. If all goes good there, then I would start checking the wiring harness for bad spots. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 With key on power, I have 11.8-9 at the fuse for the fan, the thermoswitch plug & the harness side connection for the fan. I don't have any long enough wire at home so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get some. Maybe I should just wire it to a toggle switch so I'm in control of it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 There's 2 ground wires that bolt onto the passenger frame rail right under where the harness sits and all the plugs are at. I disconnected those and turned the key over and the fuse didn't pop, with the thermoswitch plugged in as well. I'm thinking maybe it has two ground wires for some reason and its getting to much power with both of them plugged in and popping the fuse. Maybe one was for the AC? I don't have a fsm or anything so I can't look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihscout54 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Too much ground is not the issue, theres a short that you have isolated by removing its ground. Run a new ground to the switch and fan.. Forget the toggle switch and the crummy old factory wiring and use a relay with new wires as I have already mentioned. Yes its a project but it works much better. You can even use a universal adjustable fan switch if you want to go that far. Ive done this on 3 of my ea81s. The first time that fan fails to come on, or it gets at all flakey i rewire with a relay/s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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