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98 CSVT...Cooling Fans Not Functioning Properly

X

xspektrex

CEG'er
Joined
Nov 19, 2011
Messages
33
Location
Dawsonville, Ga.
*Issue: Cooling Fans Not Coming On unless CTS is unplugged

*Known
- A/C has never worked since I got the car (previous owner indicated a possible leak)
- Turning on the A/C does not turn on my fans
- Coolant is being pushed in/out of overflow catch (water pump is functioning)

*Replaced:
- High/Low speed relays
- Gauge sending Unit (single post connection)
- CTS (2-Wire connection)

*Test's Performed:
- Jumper Test on High and Low speed relay sockets (fans work)
- Battery test on High and Low speed relays (relays click)
- Disconnect CTS (fans work)
-- Plug CTS back in and fans cut off immediately

*Assumptions at this point, as to the cause
- Thermostat has failed causing little to no coolant to get to CTS
- CTS wiring is shorting along the harness
-- All wiring under the UIM appears to have been electrical taped and not very well!


Tired of :mad:fighting:mad: with her and just want to drive her, Please HELP!:help:
 
Seems like there might be a break in ur harness check the right side of the bay by ur right head light there are ur main wires mine were bad also check ur fan relay mine had sunk down in fuse box it went in but not enough to make aconnection I have an extra UIM harness and a fan relay harness with relay if u need it
 
Even though ford didn't admit it the 98's had wiring harness issues too. That thing with the AC could be a bad pressure sensor or it could be good too since you don't have a charge (I think) it wouldn't have enough pressuer to activate the sensor which controls the fans. However that is only for the AC operation and should have nothing to do with the other operation of the fans. Does the temp guage work? I had a similar issue and it turned out to be a ground for the dash and stuff being loose. It was quiet and adventure, and another story. Bottom line is I had similar symptoms everything checked out but the darn fans wouldn't come on until the car was in the red.....

My friend had a temp reader for piping and he put it on the pipe that goes across the front of the engine. It read 211 degrees and the fans came on. Then we hooked up an engine monitor and watched the ecm turn on the fans at the same temp. We did the first test since I didn't know if I could trust the temp sensors. In all cases the guage read in the red. I replace the guage and had the same issue, finally when we found the bad ground everything worked. So I hope this gives you a bit of insite, but in your case don't ignor those taped up wires either.

AF
 
- relay sockets seem to be fine...i have tried new relays for both high/low speed circuits...
- as far as breaks in the harness go i have completely re-worked all of the harness a human being can reach without pulling the motor.
 
- the ac has never worked nor never been used; fans worked up until recently
- temp gauge works (sensor was just replaced)
- ect is brand new and may be a culprate
- overflow/fill tank will begin to rush out boiling antifreeze; if that's any indication how hot it is getting
- everything worked just fine until i ran over an already dead dog that literally baha'd my csvt...
 
Do you have both fans slower when jumping low relay and then both again(noisy) on high? My sister's Mystique had one fan motor plugged into the resistor connector by mistake, causing very low speed both fans and only a single fan running on high speed test. Turned out the resistor mounted on lower driver side of fan housing was bad for low speed, so no fan until hot. The low fan cuts in around RM on gauge if A/C is not in use.
 
when jumped the speed corresponds to high/low as it should; they just simply do not cut on at all, even with new CTS, new relay's, etc...
 
I think the basic fan circuit must be OK, then. The PCM A147 turns on the fans if you pull the CTS (it should). If the waterpump is bad, the heater will not work as well as coolant overflow, and possibly no sensor reading. Does the heater work?

V6Fan.gif
 
heater blows hot...you can see flow in the "overflow" tank when you rev via the throttle body. I pulled the UIM off and removed the harness to find lots of crappy re-work by previous owner (electrical tape) and even crappier re-work from FORD (splices/heatshrink). I'm currently re-working the bare/exsposed wires but have hit a wall due to some broken wire. The connector, I believe is for the crank position sensor and has two primary wires (white with red stripe and brown with red stripe). However, it appears as if a Ford re-work was done on this wireset because, about 8" from the end a larger heat shrink wire was spliced in that loops back to the large grey connector. This heat shrink splice point has a merge from pin 8 of the grey connector to wire that wrapped around the entire length of the two primary wires all the way to the crank position sensor plug where it terminates and now connects to nothing. not sure which of the original wires it needs to be looped into....

things known:
- pin 8 of the larger connector has, from what i can tell, a black wire with blue stripe
- the coating of the removed "covering wire" was also black with blue stripe
- seems as if the "covering wire" functioned as loop back for ground and noise reduction; kinda like the alt. fix
- need some guideance so all is mended correctly, alot of work went into removing the wiring...
 
geesh...

geesh...

continuing forth on the harness (UIM harness) i have found yet another wire-set with the same setup...two wires running from the large grey connector, about 8" in another sleeve over (black with white stripe) that runs the length of the wire-set. This sleeve over, yet again, is heat-shrinked to the two main wires and terminates near the sensor plug and connects to nothing. the wire is just thumb twisted and taped over....
 
Won the battle but probably not the war...

Won the battle but probably not the war...

Several wires of the UIM harness were severely de-insulated due to heat, bumps, etc. Spent all day re-coating, electrical taping, liquid electrical taping, and continuity testing all connectors. I basically have a "backyard-mechanic" re-built UIM harness.

Wire-sets of interest:

- Crank position sensor wire-set was brittle/exposed/touching all down the span
- Cam position sensor wire-set was brittle/exposed/touching all down the span
- Nearly every ground for the UIM harness was brittle/exposed/touching some other wire along the same path

Thoughts:

I have no clue if this will fix some sub-issues looming about or out-right resolve my cooling fans not cutting on but I am fixing to re-install and update.:help:
 
naturally...

naturally...

Re-installed the repaired harness and no changes have occured. The fans will still not come on...
At this point I am going to assume the water-pump and/or thermostat have a problem or the ECT sensor I replaced is in-operable. I'm going to start with the replacement of the impeller and thermostat...
Wish me luck:cry:
 
Well...Well...

Well...Well...

Changed the waterpump (metal-impeller) and the thermostat with no changes...the fans still do not cut on and coolant will eventually rush out of the overflow due to overheating....:mad:
 
xspektrex said:
Changed the waterpump (metal-impeller) and the thermostat with no changes...the fans still do not cut on and coolant will eventually rush out of the overflow due to overheating....:mad:
Click to expand...

Is the car actually overheating or is the antifreeze pouring out the overflow tank before it starts overheating? Had a similar problem ended up being my overflow tank cap,cost me $6 at autozone and problem fixed just my 0.02
 
temp gauge almost hits red...with lid off, you can watch the overflow tank start bubbling and then it will gush out...when i changed the impeller i did notice that the reducer cone inside the housing would just fall out...

i have taken the car to a shop and had a "snap-on" system test everything about the car including the fans which they could turn on and off at the push of a button. The also showed me the temp on my CTS just to prove it was not failing. So "all-in-all" I have a working/new CTS, working/new sending unit for dash, new water-pump (metal impeller), and new thermostat.

I know the reducer cones coming loose from the housing can cause problems but could it cause an overheat and dis-allow the fans from coming on...not likely

so now what....
 
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