Intermittent Radiator Fan, HELP

jimymc · **Joined:** Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:51 pm **Posts:** 248

My Jeep overheated while we were in Alaska and I noticed that the radiator fan wasn't turning. I tried to get a new fan, but found from the local Jeep dealer that the nearest one was in Seattle, WA and we were leaving that day. I have towed the Jeep back home to Florida and bought a replacement fan. When I installed it, it worked fine. Then a little later in the day the new fan quit working. The fuse for the fan is OK. Is there a relay that I can't find somewhere that could be working part of the time and not working other times? Maybe a sensor that is not working correctly?

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:52 pm

Verify that you are or are not getting power to the fan when it stops working.

The relay for the fan is located under the battery. Some have had them go bad and evidently they have been upgraded.

jimymc · **Joined:** Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:51 pm **Posts:** 248

Thanks, Jeepjeepster. I replaced the relay today with one from Autozone. It has a nice big aluminum heatsink on it. I like that better than trying to rely on contact with the fender well for cooling like the original. It wasn't cheap, $55, but that's about the best you can do for these relays. Not completely confident that it is working properly yet. We'll see. Hopefully that will fix it. I hate intermittent problems.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Fri Sep 17, 2010 4:00 pm

No problem. Yeah, those intermittent problem can be a beast to track down and fix. Hopefully the relay with resolve your issue.

jimymc · **Joined:** Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:51 pm **Posts:** 248

Jeepjeepster wrote:

No problem. Yeah, those intermittent problem can be a beast to track down and fix. Hopefully the relay with resolve your issue.

So far, so good. The new fan is sucking air a lot better than the original and the relay seems to have fixed the problem. Time will tell.

jimymc · **Joined:** Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:51 pm **Posts:** 248

jimymc wrote:

Jeepjeepster wrote:

No problem. Yeah, those intermittent problem can be a beast to track down and fix. Hopefully the relay with resolve your issue.

So far, so good. The new fan is sucking air a lot better than the original and the relay seems to have fixed the problem. Time will tell.

Well at least I had a couple of days of good cooling. Today the Jeep started to overheat again. I stopped and checked the radiator fan. Guess what? It wasn't turning. I cooled the engine down by turning off the AC and turning on the heater. That and driving above 30 mph kept it cool enough. When I got home I undid the connector and checked with a voltmeter to make sure there was a good ground. I cranked the Jeep and turned on the AC which should have sent voltage to the fan circuit. I checked it at the connector with the voltmeter. No voltage. I reconnected the connector in desperation and the fan started running. I pulled on the wires to check the connector and the fan stopped. Guess what? I think it was a faulty connector all along. I'll fix the connector, but I think that I will start carrying some extra wire and a couple of battery clips. If this should happen again out in the bush I'll just wire the fan directly to the battery with some wire nuts. I don't think that I wasted money on the new fan and relay. I have 120K miles on the Jeep and these are new parts that will start with 0 miles. Another potential averted.

Intermittent Radiator Fan, HELP

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