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96 Contour 4 cycl. 5 speed Cooling fan

C

contourark

New CEG'er
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
14
Location
Benton, Ar
I have one more problem other than the clutch thread......

My cooling fan will not kick on and the car is not overheating but running on the hot side (i think)....When driving (interstate) will run at about the "A" or "L" of "Normal" on the gauge. It only got the the red arc one time and that was on a dirt road and about 25 to 35 MPH (not a lot of air moving). I didn't hear the fan or water boil and when I check it the wires all are connected. It doesn't smell hot or clatter at all at that temp. It gets close to the "L" and a little close to the red arc in the city on really hot days. I have not jumped the fan to the battery yet (will do that tonight), but it doesn't kick on low or high at all. My A/C will not kick on so I can't test it there....

Any guesses?
 
Same problem im having only one of my fans works on high only to save it from overheating... 1 of the fans are completely locked up and wont spin freely, the other is rather noisy. Best idea i came up with was to go ahead and replace them both. Hopefully thatll fix my problem and maybe yours to... Sucks not having AC dont it??:blackeye:
 
NEED TO SEE...if having this Problem.....

NEED TO SEE...if having this Problem.....

Well, I found the problem with the fan. I jumped the relays and they both kick on the fan...so...I will test the relays with a 9v battery today. The problem I found was the wires....see pics....For the past 13years the heat from the engine has dry-rotted the outside of the wires until they look like this. The more I removed out of the loom the more I found heat stressed wires.:eek::shocked::cry:

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fyi, you can't host pictures from your hard drive. either go to quick links in the menu above and go to pictures and albums and upload them here. add them as an attachment to the post of go use a free online hosting site for the pictures.
 
Pictures

Pictures

pics are too big. Sorry....They are bad. Check your wires inside the loom if you are having this problem. The heat just got to them in the worst way.
The wire insulation is so brittle it will fall off if you touch it or bend it, all the way down the wire. I have not found a place it is not like this yet. I will have to trace it all the way until I can find where the heat stress stops.

Fun for me.
 
I went to quick links and I don't have pictures or albums in the menu...I looked thru all of them I had and couldn't find it.
 
Cooling fan and A/C Compressor wires

Cooling fan and A/C Compressor wires

This is the loom where the A/C compressor wires are at....They are like this also.
 
Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you've got yourself a prime example of the crumbling harness insulation. Virtually ALL pre-98s and quite a few early 98s were prone to this. What you DO have, luckily, is the car with the cheapest replacement harness. Mine ran about $175 three years ago from Team Ford. Honestly about all you can do is suck it up and replace the wiring harness. I managed it in a day or two of relaxed (read: not working hard) wrenching. You will continue to see more and more problems surface until this is replaced.
 
wire update

wire update

Well, I am so happy that the only wires that are fried is the fan and A/C compressor wires. I took all of them out of the looms and found out thats all it was. There were about 4 main power wires that run off the battery that needs replaced. Thats all I could find.....I will get them all installed in the morning.:laugh:

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Fuse box (bottom) under the hood next to the battery. Fan wires (green with blue and white stripe)

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Fan Wires

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Loom....no bad ones...just the fan and a/c
 
It's usually more than just the loom wires. I'd advise you to check some other trouble spots. Injector connections being one. The crumbling insulation is rarely contained to one specific set of wires like you're showing. If that is indeed your case, you're one lucky SOB!

Congrats on tracking down the fan issue.
 
So far I am.....I looked around the injectors but didn't look as hard as I should have. I'll look in the morning while I am re-wiring. By the time it starts again it will have no issues with wires. I will do the rest of the engine compartment Saturday morning.
 
Fan wires

Fan wires

I changed all them out and it still looks like it (by the gauge) it is running on the hot side (just past the "L" and at the red arc). The fan didn't kick on, so I jumped it at the relay....then it kicked on. I checked the relay with a 9volt battery. Every time I put power to it you could hear it click...both high and low relay. What else could it be?:confused:

And...on a good note...at was all the wires that looked fried.
 
The Zetec sending unit for the gauge is notorious for going bad and reading high. get a scan tool and see what temp the car is actually running at.

it may be worth replacing the sending unit, its located on the underside of the thermostat housing.
 
Cool....Thanks....It just isn't acting like it is running hot at all. No smell, no boiling, no rattle, good power. Its just not showing the signs of overheating.

The heater is blowing hot air.....so the water pump is ok....I will change that when I do my timing belt. I put a cold (180) thermostat in it.
 
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