fan problems

hello,
Well I just got a new water pump and radiator last week and my car has been running fine but today it got hot. I was having trouble before with the fan not comming on but i took it to a ford dealership and they supposedly fixed it. Then the guy that put the radiator and water pump on told me it was still broken and put in a new fan relay and he said he fixed it. Well now it's still doing it. The fan will come on but not untill the temp gets 3/4 of the way to the end, or if i put the car on defrost. I can't be driving around like this though, i think that's one of the reason the welds on the old radiator blew. When we disconnected the temp sensor, i'm not sure exactly what it's called it was kinda by the s/c, the fan was on open circuit and just stayed on. My question is what could this be, or what controls the fan? Tommarow i'm goin to go to auto zone and have the scan my car's computer to see what that can do me, even though i know they don't have like 1 part for my car. Let me know what you think


thanks
dan

You are low on coolant.

What you need to do is remove the bolt that is next to the thermostat housing (where the upper rad hose connects to the front of the engine). It has a plastic collar around it that says something like "install b4 starting the engine". Use a open end wrench to hold the metal tube that the bolt is in so that you don't twist it off. Fill the rad with coolant until it comes out of the tube. Cap off the rad and the tube and fill the overflow (the overflow must not leak or it will never work).

Start the engine and allow it to run for about 10 minutes, drive the car around the block (put your foot in it to get it nice and hot), then park the car and allow it to cool. If it starts to bubble don't worry about it that's just the air purging itself from the system and that's what you want. After about 2 hours check and top off the overflow. You might want to do this 2 times.

Jeff

well i tried that and everything seemed ok. I just don't get it. Could it be the thermostat? The fan comes on but not untill the gauge is 3/4 of the way or more. If you have any information please let me know

thanks
dan

Exacty where on the guage scale does the needle get before the fan turns on?

Just for info turning the AC to defrost is the same thing as turning the AC ON and that is what is starting your fan (it is supposed to do that is the point.) This proves the IRCM and fuses are good. You may want to change the ECT sensor (the one on the passenger side of the intake manifold) if in your mind the fan is delayed too long in starting.

Also the Temp Guage in the instrument cluster gets its signal from the ECT sensor just off the thermostat housing.

Try changing the temp sensor in the lower intake, and the temp sensor in the tstat housing. I have both go bad at different times. When they did, they just read high or lower than normal - they did not completely die. This can cause the fan to come on early/late, and the gauge to read high/low. That's my two cents worth.

it's kinda wierd, today i left it running after school for a little bit and it turned on before or on the n in norm. But other times it's not till after that. All i know is that i don't like it at all. I can't just leave the car sit and not worry about it, and when i'm doing stop and go driving in town it gets hot also. I guess i'll go to auto zone and buy that to see if that's it, but i'm still upset that i paid that guy $80 extra to replace the fan relay and it's still not working right.

what does the temp sensor look like? I bought what they said was the fan switch i believe at autozone. It's a small round shaped copper piece that really doesn't look like it'd do much. But when i tried to replace the other one coolant starting running out of really fast and i just put the old one back on

thanks
dan

There may be nothing wrong with your fan at all. The stock puller fan activation temp is 220 degrees which is right about the M in norm on the gauge if your water temperature sending unit is functioning correctly. I believe that's about 3/4's of the gauge.

My fan doesn't come on until M in Norm. I believe this normal.