Bad Otterstat?

I am currently in the process of restoring my Delorean, and one of the many items that is on the "not working" list is the cooling system. I bought a relay update kit a while back so the fan fail module has been replaced with jumpers. The cooling fans would still not turn on, so I jumped the wires on the otterstat and, sure enough, the fans roared to life. Fast forward a few weeks and I have purchased an otterstat and replaced it. The fans still will not turn on when the car is at the correct temperature. My first thought is that maybe the otterstat I bought was bad, but I would like to think that's unlikely as I was careful to not drop it or damage it in any way. Is there any other possible reason for the fans to not work in this situation? I don't know if it is important, but the A/C system is only partially functioning, and the compressor is not currently hooked up.

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Originally Posted by Wyliewoodo

I am currently in the process of restoring my Delorean, and one of the many items that is on the "not working" list is the cooling system. I bought a relay update kit a while back so the fan fail module has been replaced with jumpers. The cooling fans would still not turn on, so I jumped the wires on the otterstat and, sure enough, the fans roared to life. Fast forward a few weeks and I have purchased an otterstat and replaced it. The fans still will not turn on when the car is at the correct temperature. My first thought is that maybe the otterstat I bought was bad, but I would like to think that's unlikely as I was careful to not drop it or damage it in any way. Is there any other possible reason for the fans to not work in this situation? I don't know if it is important, but the A/C system is only partially functioning, and the compressor is not currently hooked up.

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If you have air in your cooling system the otterstat might not activate the fans. Make sure the otterstat is pointing downwards.

Also, pull the wires off the otterstat, and put a jumper wire in the connectors. If the fans come on, you only have three possibilities: no/low coolant in the system, air in the system, bad otterstat.

If the fans don't come on even with that jumper, well, then I hope you like using a multimeter.

Also try mounting the otterstat with 2 carefully placed zip-ties on the sides. Otterstats can be quite susceptible to being squeezed by a single clip, which means they don't activate. Seen this a few times.

Good suggestions so far. Also, check the condition of the 2 connectors that attach to the otterstat. Mine were corroded when I first got my car, and it was doing the same thing as yours. To clean mine, I sprayed WD-40 in them, and then used 600 grit sandpaper... folding a little a piece to fit in them. This seemed to clean the green copper oxide well.

You can test the otterstat in hot water but you need to pull it out. An ohm meter will show zero ohms when it switches on (should be below a rapid boil of the water at sea level).