BuddyLeeX

what color is the wire from the fan that needs to be grounded? I cant find this wire, and it isnt connected to the fan switch on the passenger side head. The owner of my car before me had rigged it up to where th efan came on with the turn of the ignition. I looked in th efuse box but didnt fan any color of wire that ran from the fan. Plz help, im wanting to fan this wire and make me my own switch in teh car to where i can ground it out by a toggle switch to turn it on. Thanks.

BuddyLeeX

well i think i figured out soemthing. Im just gonna splice a wire onto the red/black wire from the fan and run it to the dash, and run a wire from the battery to the dash and make a manual switch out of that. Hope it doesnt damage anything, it shouldnt...

Flamingo

Doing that will pull a lot a juice thru that switch. Does it still have the fan relay near the battery? It should have 4 wires, a heavy orange one +12V all the time, a heavy wire (red I think) that runs to the fan + connection, a little brown/wht wire that is +12 when ignition on, and a green/wht wire that normally runs to the ECM, but can be grounded so that the fan runs all of the time when ign on or ran thru a switch to ground so that you can manually turn the fan on when you want.

BuddyLeeX

hmm, ok so ill do the same thign im doing except with the "green/wht" wire tho and it should still work right?

BuddyLeeX

hmm, i didnt find taht wire, but im running a toggle switch that is running off the battery. Ill run it liek this for a few days to see how it goes.

88ROC1LE

iTrader: (4)

when I first got my car, the previous owner had cut all the wires in the front of the car, I guess trying to replace the MAF burnoff or something. Anyway I ran a military style toggle switch (30amp) with wires running from the switch to the black red and a green wire. I don't believe these were the factory wires but it was what I had to work with. When I rigged this up, both fans would come on high. When I disconnected the green wire only one fan would come on and it would stay on low. Does this sound correct for factory wiring? The wiring in this car was a mess because the headlights were even cut P.S. I origionally had a 20 amp switch(Autozone type) and the sucker fried after about 3 weeks in January-01. I installed the military style 30 amp and it has lasted to this day. I run both fans on high and it cools down in about 2 minutes on a hot July day in Kentucky!

BuddyLeeX

i forgot what amp rating the switch i got was, but it gets kinda hot quick, i hope it doesn tburn out, it was a bitch to get in thre right.

badgta

iTrader: (4)

DON'T CUT NOTHING!!!!

to have the fans come on when you want all you have to do is splice a ground wire to the gray or green/white wire on the relay that should be mounted on the passenger fender... toward the front bumper, just run a switch to ground and this will make the fans come on at high... if you do what you said above 9 out of10 times you will either fry wires or switches...

Flamingo

Or if the wires and/or relay has already been removed, wire in a relay yourself. Make it a 30Amp to be on the safe side, as my fans draw right around 20Amps. It's not hard, not that expensive, and will save you a world of hurt later.
As for the guy that gutted all of the wiring up there, I sometimes don't blame him. GM really did some screwy things in the way they wired the lights (and car in general), and it has given me many fits trying to figure some of that stuff out. I am about to tear out half of the wires in that car and just start from scratch.

88ROC1LE

iTrader: (4)

All those cut wires ticked me off. I spent an entire day rewiring everything, even wires to the MAF were cut. I found out alot that day about GM wiring and how those fans work. I would strongly suggest a 30 amp switch to be on the safe side, you don't want that switch to get to warm!

uk89camaro

To be on the safe side, either tap off the existing relay or plug in a second one if going direct to the black/red wire at the fan. I didn't and was damn lucky to see the wires smokin' back to my switch when the fan cut in automatically!! Sheesh! what an idiot!

BuddyLeeX

hmm, mine seem to be different. There are two relay boxes, one with 4 wires and th eother with 5. The one with 4 wires has: Light brown/white, blue, black, dark brown/white. The one with 5 wires has: Green, black, blue, and 2 white/black wires. I tried grounding all of them and none of them turned on the fan, i also connected most of them to the battery and usually turned on some clicky sounding thing coming from the carb or the ignition sound. The black one though on the relay with 4 wires just sparked when i connected it to the battery, i was thinking maybe thats the ground since it just sparked. But it did nothign when i grounded it.

Flamingo

First off, let me make a very strong suggestion here.... please invest in a voltmeter, even a cheapie one. In the same vein, please do not go shorting wires to ground indiscriminately... you are very very lucky if you didnt fry something doing that.
That said, what relays are you looking at? The fan relay is mounted on the radiator support next to/behind the battery. As far as I know, that is the only relay mounted there (stock anyway). If nothing else, trace the fan wires back to the relay.

Firebird90V6

Im having a problem with the Fan on a 92TBI bird. Im just now hearing about this relay by the battery? I know about the one onf the firewall but whats this by the battery, anyone have a picture of this?

CWaters75

When I got my '87 IROC, the person that had the car before me, wired the passenger side fan up to always come on when the ignition is turned on. Whether the car is running, or just the key forward. The passenger side fan has actually never come on because he either replaced the thermo with a 160, or removed it all together; I haven't checked yet! Does anyone know on this vehicle, how these fans are *supposed* to be wired in the first place!? Obviously it's either a self relay, or thermo relay. I would just like some help on which!

Flamingo

Not exactly sure about dual fans, but there are wiring diagrams on the tech section here, or go invest $10-15 on a haynes or chilton manual, especially if you plan on doing a lot of work on your car yourself. Or if you really want the definitive answer, get a factory manual... there was a place over on ebay that was selling them for I think $25-30.
One thing you might try real quick... turn your a/c on and see if that turns on the 2nd fan. That might be the fan that is hard-wired tho, so this may not work.

CWaters75

I thought about that 2nd fan being controlled by the A/C system, like my buddies Tahoe is. His 1st fan always spins, especially since it's not electric , but when he turns his A/C on, the fan in front of the radiator engages. The 2nd fan on mine just doesn't engage at all, but it spins freely, so I know the bearings aren't seized! I have a Haynes manual, and am already on eBay looking for the shop manual! I don't like the Childrens manuals!