Cooling fan on indicator light

[Ryan S.]

After my very traumatic over heating episode, I am pretty paranoid about my coolant temp and fans. I am constantly looking at temp gauge and tryng to hear if fan is on or not. Unfortunately, it is not easy to tell if fan is on or off while driving, especially with music on. I think I read it somewhere that people were able to use fan fail light as fan on indicator light.

Does anyone know how to rewire to have the fan fail light to come on when fan is on? If not, I am willing to put in a separate wiring for fan on light.

Thanks so much in advance.

[DMCMW Dave]

After my very traumatic over heating episode, I am pretty paranoid about my coolant temp and fans. I am constantly looking at temp gauge and tryng to hear if fan is on or not. Unfortunately, it is not easy to tell if fan is on or off while driving, especially with music on. I think I read it somewhere that people were able to use fan fail light as fan on indicator light.

Does anyone know how to rewire to have the fan fail light to come on when fan is on? If not, I am willing to put in a separate wiring for fan on light.

Thanks so much in advance.

Go to the fan module socket (the blue one). If you have the jumper in there, add a third leg to the jumper. Plug the new "leg" into the CENTER pin of the socket. (do not accidently plug it into the ground pin or you'll melt all the ground wiring in the relay chain!). This now means that you have the jumper plugged into the three sockets that it belongs in, PLUS the center one. The pin closest to the rear of the car should still be empty. As a double check, verify that the one empty has the black wire connected to it. It's not altogether a bad idea to clip the black wire off the bottom of the socket to avoid doing something wrong in error in the future.

This will turn the fan fail light on any time the fans are on. Put a small piece of black electrical tape over the word "fail".

DISCLAIMER - If you do this wrong and melt your wiring, you are on your own. Be sure you have this correct before you turn anything on.

[dn010]

This is all I did to convert mine (same as Dave described above), same disclaimer as above.relay comnpartment.jpg

[Ryan S.]

Thanks guys. I am so glad that I was paranoid. When I opened it, I found this. Bottom wire was totally melted into a socket. I had to use a plier to pull it out. Is something going on with my fan? I put this brand new jumper with fuses last year, about 8 months ago

[Bitsyncmaster]

Looks like a bad crimp. You have to watch those jumper pins for not being fully seated into the connector also. I would recomend you cut those little tabs off the sides so the pins to seat fully.

I know a lot of people say the OEM fans don't draw excessive power but I've seen 30 amps (both fans) is not uncommon.

[Ryan S.]

Thanks Dave.
So you think nothing wrong with my electrical system? Just a bad crimp? Thing was stuck pretty good. It took a lot of force to free it up,
Do you think I need to replace the blue relay socket? I don't think I totally destroyed it but... If yes, typical relay socket would work, right?

[Bitsyncmaster]

Thanks Dave.
So you think nothing wrong with my electrical system? Just a bad crimp? Thing was stuck pretty good. It took a lot of force to free it up,
Do you think I need to replace the blue relay socket? I don't think I totally destroyed it but... If yes, typical relay socket would work, right?

I would recommend you replace the socket and that one pin. I can send you my jumper which I send with my fan fail unit. I recommend that jumper to remove the fan circuit breaker as long as your fan fail jumpers are fused. My jumper is 12 AWG wire 4 inches long with tin plated socket pins crimped onto the ends. The jumper goes from the fan relay to that melted pin you have.

[Ryan S.]

I would recommend you replace the socket and that one pin. I can send you my jumper which I send with my fan fail unit. I recommend that jumper to remove the fan circuit breaker as long as your fan fail jumpers are fused. My jumper is 12 AWG wire 4 inches long with tin plated socket pins crimped onto the ends. The jumper goes from the fan relay to that melted pin you have.

Thanks Dave
I will email you. By the way, if I have to replace the blue socket, should I just get rid of the socket and hard wire my jumper? Also, what is the advantage of bypassing fan circuit breaker?

[Bitsyncmaster]

Thanks Dave
I will email you. By the way, if I have to replace the blue socket, should I just get rid of the socket and hard wire my jumper? Also, what is the advantage of bypassing fan circuit breaker?

If you have each fan fused (OEM @ 20 amps each) then the 40 amp breaker is never going to trip so it's just another two connections that can go bad. It also has about 6 feet of #12 wire in the harness.

If you never plan to install a fan controller or my fan fail unit then removing the fan fail socket and using good splices is probably a better option. That way you don't have those jumper that can vibrate loose. For high current splices, I recommend non-insulated butt terminals with the proper crimper. I also solder after I crimp but you will need a large iron (60 watts or more with a large tip) or a soldering gun (140 watt). Don't forget to install shrink tubing before you splice keeping it far away from the splice if you are going to solder.

[dn010]

If you somehow draw more than 40 amps then you might check the status of your cooling fans; I agree with Dave as it appears to be an unsuccessful crimp, but you may want to check the rest of the wiring and fans themselves to rule out all possibilities...