AutoCool in Smyrna?

[DL4567]

If the one fan runs with the fan relay that's in there, does that mean the relay definitely is not the problem? Since the fan-fail relay has been replaced by fused jumpers, and the fuses are fine, what other parts of the equation are culprits to cause one fan not to run?

[DL4567]

I really hate the 30 minute time limit on edits.

Was going to add:


I've been studying the wiring diagram of the "Cooling Fan Circuit" here: http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?40...ing-Schematics

....and it kind of confirms my thoughts. Looks like there's not much to go wrong after the power leaves the fan relay, and then leaves the circuit breaker. From there it just splits off to each fan. Yesterday I also unscrewed the ground wire from the frame right next to the fan connector, and sanded the contact washer. Didn't make any difference either. Fan still didn't come on.

So if I confirm there's a voltage drop when checking the wire while connected to the fan, what's the next thing to check?

Thanks for your continued help!

[Bitsyncmaster]

Your correct assuming your rewired fan fail is wired stock less the fan fail socket. So it could be the wiring that was installed has a bad connection. It could also be one of the fuse holders has a bad connection.

What you should do is use your meter to check for voltage on each side of each fuse in that fan fail wiring. There is also a connector for the fan wires in the "washer bottle" location which is the last thing you want to check.

[DL4567]

I finally made some time to do a bit of further investigating. Looks like the fuse holder that powers the driver's side fan shows 11.XX volts, while the other one that powers the passenger side shows only around 4 volts. The connections look clean, the fuse holders are pretty solidly wired underneath with shrink tubing and everything -- overall a very neat job. Also, no amount of wiggling those wires or the brown ones on the fan circuit breaker had any effect on making the 4.x volts fluctuate. I even tried a different relay in the fan socket -- no effect or difference on the voltage.

This probably isn't related, but thought I'd mention it.... there is also this thing on my gas tank from before I owned the car. I'm guessing it's a TANK Zilla, even though it just says "zilla" on it and nothing else. It's plugged in-line to the fuel level indicator. I only bring it up because it looks to also be plugged in to the wiring above the front frame extension, which looks like the same wiring that also powers the fans (it's hard to see in there really well). (?)

Not sure what to do or check next....

Thanks Dave!

[Bitsyncmaster]

With the load removed (your fuse removed) you can not get good voltage drop readings. I would bet if the fuse was installed, you would get zero volts on that fuse socket (put the meter black lead on a common ground and the red lead on the metal on top of the fuse).

That does look like you have the tank Zilla. It looks like someone installed a small purple wire going to the fuel pump. May just be the photo make it look like a small gauge wire. But also looks like a cut wire wire on that fuel pump two pin connector.

[DL4567]

So I got the fan working!

After more experimentation on Saturday, I determined the problem is definitely somewhere along the factory black and green wire going from the fuse jumper to the fan. I disconnected the fuse, and ran a long jumper wire from the source side of the fuse holder straight to the fan, and it worked. I then did the opposite, testing the factory ground by replacing it with a jumper wire. Every iteration worked except when supplying power through the factory black and green wire. So I bit the bullet, cut off the factory wire by the fuse jumper and ran a new wire all the way from the relay compartment to the fan, and a new ground wire too while I was at it (front frame to the fan). Both fans work now as they should, with the driver's side still using the factory wiring.

Couple questions though... why are there 4 wires going into the factory harness that plugs into the fan? There's the green/black power source, the black ground, a yellow(?) and another one. What do they all do?

Also, after finishing all of the above, when driving to the gas station the gas gauge worked fine at 1/4 tank, but after filling up it now points straight up. I wanna say it's done that before with a full tank and fixed itself as it goes down a little, but could it possibly be related to the fan wiring since it's in the same area? All that is on a separate circuit, right? Is that a coincidence? (I left the factory fan ground connected to the frame)

[Bitsyncmaster]

There is a capacitor wired into each fan to reduce electrical noise heard on an AM radio. That would be the yellow wire and the additional black wire.

See if your gas gauge is working after you use some gas in the tank. It may be your sender has an open when the tank is full.

[DL4567]

I was debating on whether or not to start a new thread to possibly get more exposure to this question, but I'll try this thread first since it has my recent AC history.

The car still blows cold since AutoCool retrofitted it with 134a in April (hooray!!), but lately I've noticed the compressor does not cycle. At the end of a drive I've parked in the garage at home twice now, left it running, and stood there and watched the compressor for several minutes, and it runs continuously. After a couple minutes, the main cooling fans do turn off, and then back on a minute later or so, but the compressor keeps turning while they do that. Ambient temp is about 80-85 degrees.

Some Googling led me to posts on car forums about 134a conversions making compressors not cycle, and this is "normal," but I wanted to ask you guys of course. I took a couple of pics where I see condensation, if that means anything at all, but I'm assuming that's probably totally normal and has always been there when the AC runs. Hopefully this whole thing is nothing to be concerned about. Anyone else have this experience with 134a? The AC works well, which is great, but before the last few months/year, it always cycled like normal. I just want to make sure nothing's going to explode, etc...

Please note, in one of my posts above from 7/13/15 (long before getting the AC worked on this spring), I noticed at that point that the compressor ran continuously, but at the time was not blowing cold whatsoever. So the cause may have nothing to do with the 134a.

[Bitsyncmaster]

First if your radiator fans turned off without the compressor shutting off you need to fix that problem. My guess is your fan circuit breaker tripped. Make sure you have the 40 amp breaker on the radiator fans.

You can make the AC cycle by turning the circulation fan down to low speed or off. That will make the low side of the AC pull down below the low side switch cutoff pressure. Note I have found one low side switch go bad and it would not cutoff the compressor.

[DL4567]

First if your radiator fans turned off without the compressor shutting off you need to fix that problem. My guess is your fan circuit breaker tripped. Make sure you have the 40 amp breaker on the radiator fans.

You can make the AC cycle by turning the circulation fan down to low speed or off. That will make the low side of the AC pull down below the low side switch cutoff pressure. Note I have found one low side switch go bad and it would not cutoff the compressor.

But the radiator fans turned back on within a minute of turning off. If the circuit breaker tripped, wouldn't that keep them off "permanently" until the breaker was reset/replaced?

For what it's worth, the interior fan speed was on level 2 during these observations.