Cooling fan relay?

[Félix]

Hi everyone,

I have had problems with my cooling fan not coming on and causing overheating in heavy traffic.

My car is a Honda Civic DX 1990. If the circuit is similar to the CRX Si for which I have found a service manual, there is the fan motor, fan relay and thermoswitch.

I have tested the fan motor and it does work, checked the thermoswitch that is below the oil filter on the back of the engine block and it seems alright, and I can’t find the relay at all.
According to the service manual, it is located on the left of the engine bay right behind the left headlight. It is not there. Also no indication that it is in the engine fuse box.

How does one locate a stray cooling fan relay?

EDIT : After looking online, it seems that a few people are having the same problem locating the relay.
The fuse box inside has a Cooling fan fuse. Does the fact that it is not a ‘Cooling fan relay fuse’ mean that there could be no relay at all in this system?

Topic

[college man]

see if this helps.

http://www.hondacivicforum.com/forum/mechanical-problems-technical-chat-8/radiator-fan-not-running-help-74117/

[Félix]

Thanks but it doesnt help. I had seen this and there is someone with the same problem as me who can’t locate their relay.

Forgot to mention my car doesn’t have AC so it has only one fan on the radiator.

[college man]

[quote=”Boisclair” post=113345]Thanks but it doesnt help. I had seen this and there is someone with the same problem as me who can’t locate their relay.

Forgot to mention my car doesn’t have AC so it has only one fan on the radiator.[/quote]

Take a small paper clip and bridge the two wire thermo switch connector
to see if the fan comes on.

[Félix]

Seems like I will have to.
I was putting off doing this because the switch is in such an impractical spot that it is very hard to get the connectors back on the posts, when you don’t have a lift.

Is it even possible that this setup could work without a relay?

[college man]

[quote=”Boisclair” post=113349]Seems like I will have to.
I was putting off doing this because the switch is in such an impractical spot that it is very hard to get the connectors back on the posts, when you don’t have a lift.

Is it even possible that this setup could work without a relay?[/quote]

it should have a relay. maybe when you bypass it you will here the relay click.

[Russell Sawyer]

Have you done any work on your cooling system? It’s possible that there is an air leak which is causing the engine to over heat but isn’t increasing the temperature of the coolant to force the fan to come on. I would check for leaks and bleed the coolant system.

[Félix]

Thanks for the input.

Although I have changed my thermostat and bled the coolant once or twice recently, I really think the fan relay is at fault because the engine overheated only a few times when the fan should have been on but wasn’t (traffic).

[Russell Sawyer]

I’ve had the same problem and air in the system is a common cause. Check out this video from ETCG he explains it well.

[video width=550 height=309 type=youtube]zUpXgAJ1gjU[/video]

[EricTheCarGuy]

The first thing to check with any overheat, especially one after cooling system service, is for air in the cooling system. If there’s air in the system, the cooling fans may not operate properly. I cover this issue in detail here.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/what-to-do-when-your-engine-overheats

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Author]

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