Radiator Fans Not Running (93 ATX)

[TwistedD85]

I had the radiator replaced, I've just been too stressed lately to take care of it myself and the two year warranty sounded damn nice, afterwards the radiator fans won't turn on. I've checked all of the connections, the four pin to the fans, the CCRM connector, pretty much anything on the radiator and around, it all seems to be plugged in like it should be. I took it back to them under their warranty and they said they bypassed the CCRM, feeding the fans 12v directly and they worked fine, so the CCRM seemed to be the culprit. I replaced that and the issue still persists. I tried tracing the wires back from the main four pin fan connector to the CCRM connector and I'm getting continuity, so I'm at a loss.

Can anyone give me a rundown of things to check, where they might be and how to check them? Even if I've already checked something it'd still be nice to include it, just in case someone else comes searching for the same issue. I just think it's unlikely I had a bad CCRM that failed while the radiator was being replaced and happened to buy another bad one.

Thanks

 

[sperold]

The signal wire that tell the computer the temperature is on its own sensor in the thermostat housing (not the one that runs your gauge).
Male sure signal wire is hooked-up and not broken by your trained professionals.

 

[TwistedD85]

I went looking for that today and I couldn't see anything past the mess of wires and tubes under there, is the connector a certain color or anything? And will just removing the intake make it much easier to find? They really shouldn't have gone that far when working on the radiator, but who knows. I don't think they even unplugged the fans when changing out the radiator, the connector was impossibly tight. So I can only assume they tried swinging the fans up and out of the way.

 

[TwistedD85]

Looks fine to me, black plug to the right of the thermostat when looking at the back (trans side) of the engine? All seems snug and undisturbed.

 

[sperold]

Your temperature sender wire is LG/R and goes to pin 7 on the Powertrain Control Module (PCM).
Your fans are in parallel and fed from the CCRM (pins 3 &4) by 2 wires Dark Blue (DB). The 2 wires bundle together and go through a connector (fairly big) Then those wires split up (still DB) and go to seperate connectors for each fan. Each fan wire following these connectors are Black and go to ground.

You can get the rad out without disconnecting the CCRM wiring, but it requires a lot of maneuvering and pulling on the wires. Did the professionals disconnect the CCRM wiring?

 

[TwistedD85]

I'm pretty sure they did. Unless I did it sometime back it looks like they tightened the connector's bolt down too much and cracked the CCRM's connector. God I hate wiring crap, especially 20 year old heat hardened wiring crap.

 

[sperold]

Any chance the thermostat housing is dry (not burped of air) and your temperature sensor is not actually in coolant?

Bit of a long shot, but look into that possibility by parking uphill drastically so that the housing is the highest point in your system. I think the little lines that go to your throttle body can be disconnected to let the air out.

Maybe someone will know what voltage the sender transmits when it demands cooling, and you can feed that into the plug to see if your fans turn on.

As a last effort, I would go back to the shop and have them demonstrate how they put power directly to the fans (especially the part where they did not disconnect the fans connectors, as you deemed them to be untouched).

 

[TwistedD85]

I can try burping it again, the greatest angle I can manage though it's about thirty degrees or so at best. I'm also putting in a new radiator cap too just to be safe. It's leaking coolant from the overflow hose, not sure why, but thought it might be cap related. I also think the throttle body is being bypassed at the moment, it'd probably be a big mess trying that.

And I can see the way they did it when I look close, there's two pinholes in the wires closest to the driver's side fan's connector. I also cleaned out a lot of green muck from the main four pin fan connector up top, I dunno if it was dielectric grease or what but it was so thick. I don't remember it being so hard to pull out either, makes me wonder if they put something in it to keep it in since it's missing it's two tabs. They seem to be fans of spraying/brushing things on stuff, antiseize on so many bolts and screws, so I wouldn't put it past them.

 

[itwonder]

The fan should run whenever the A/C is on regardless of engine temperature, if you are going less than ~50 mph. This will let you trace fan voltages from the CCRM without worrying about whether the engine coolant temperature sensor (ECT) is telling the PCM to turn the fan on. I believe your 93 ATX has the two speed fan with a single motor winding where an external dropping resistor is used in series for the low speed. Maybe something has happened to the dropping resistor. Check all fuses too. My info says you have a type J ccrm. Attached is a document that has a description of the fan control in the type J, and another that has a general description of fan operation. The tabs on the fan connector break very easily; can happen to anybody. A tie-wrap makes a good substitute.

 

[TwistedD85]

I put it on Max A/C to try and turn the fans on, but I got nothing. But the A/C is empty, the bottle I used to refill it either had a faulty gauge or I was faulty and it blew it all out a seal years back. But yeah, when I try to use the A/C the clutch doesn't engage, the CCRM's relay doesn't click, and the fans don't start either. I've also checked the fan fuse under the hood and it's visibly fine, no breaks or anything, but I'll try and check others. As for the tabs I'm alright with that, it snugs up just fine, but I think they might have worried and sprayed something in there to glut it in, I dunno. I dunno if OEM dielectric grease was green or if it's corrosion or just glue, either way I've tried to clean it out since the fans aren't working at all. That would've been one reason.

 

[TwistedD85]

Can anyone let me know if the green goo/grease in the connector was supposed to be there and I'm forgetting it from the last time I worked on it or that it's not supposed to be there and they mucked it up with something? And does anyone know how to clean out the female connector on the fan side? I'm just really thinking that must be it, otherwise I'm gonna have to wire in a probe and relay to the thing, I'd rather not. Thanks and sorry for all of the trouble.

 

[TwistedD85]

Well, thanks to SV&HOdan's kindness I've managed to try three CCRM modules including my own, I at least think I hear the relays clicking from inside the car when it's above "N", but no fans. I don't really have a way of testing it with the module in place, all I can think of would be a break in the wire somewhere from the module to the fan. I'm gonna try some continuity testing between the module's connector and the fan's connector. Does anyone know what the pinout of the four pin fan connector is? Thanks.

 

[rubydist]

here are a couple pics from my 94 shop manual. iirc, the 93 fans are the same.

sorry they are not better quality pics... my phone doesn't always want to focus very well, maybe it takes after me...