2nd Generation Specific (1986-1992) 1986-1992 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections.

radiator fan question.........

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Old 11-29-10 | 06:20 PM
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IN radiator fan question.........

today i took of the clutch fan and shroud so that i could put on an electric fan. i picked up an electric fan at the junkyard and put it on.

my question is: how do i wire up the electrical fan so that it comes on when the engine reaches normal temp?

there are 2 wires (blue=power, black=ground)

my friend did it somehow but i dont remember what he did to make it work like i want to.
Old 11-29-10 | 06:27 PM
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https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/how-control-electric-fan-factory-thermoswitch-886862/

long thread with lots of different diagrams, but basically the easiest thing to do is locate a thermoswitch that will trigger a fan relay when the temperature gets high enough. The s5 style switches are easier to hook up.
Old 11-29-10 | 06:56 PM
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where is a thermoswitch on the s5 non turbo at? is there one on the back of the thermostat housing? and since i have two wires on the fan, cant i just ground the black wire of the fan and attach the other wire to the thermoswitch?
Old 11-29-10 | 07:26 PM
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Originally Posted by blackrotary23
where is a thermoswitch on the s5 non turbo at? is there one on the back of the thermostat housing? and since i have two wires on the fan, cant i just ground the black wire of the fan and attach the other wire to the thermoswitch?
Oh God, NO!
The unit on the back of the pump housing is not a switch, it's a sensor...completely different animal, leave it alone.
There is an unused pad on the pump housing that can be drilled/tapped to accept a switch or you add an adaptor to the upper rad hose or even maybe directly into the rad itself.
Where ever you end up locating the switch, it will control the relay that feeds the fan, not the fan itself.
Old 12-02-10 | 04:33 PM
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ok, so i ended up buying a relay kit for the fan. it came with a thermostat switch and all necessary wiring and the diagram to wire it up

i hooked everything up exact to the diagram, and the fan does not come on. the relay is as follows:

black wire- ground
orange wire- + wire from fan, - from fan to ground
red wire- + battery terminal
brown wire- prong 1 of thermo switch
yellow wire- prong 2 of thermo switch, then other end goes to switched ignition source
blue wire- secondary fan(which is not being used)
green wire- a/c compressor( which is not being used)

i wired it all up according to the above wiring like it says, and the fan does not come on when reaching full temp. the only way i can get the fan to turn on is by taking the green wire that isnt being attached to the a/c compressor (which is not on the car) and touching it to the + side of the battery. it will turn on when cold, warm, hot, etc. i dont know what the problem is. somebody have a suggestion for me? thanks!
Old 12-02-10 | 06:00 PM
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Can you post the directions you're working from?
What you describe sounds weird as hell.
Old 12-02-10 | 06:19 PM
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yeah, ill get it on here shortly.......
Old 12-02-10 | 06:24 PM
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this is the schematic that i was using. i wired it up exact to this.

i also used aaroncake.net and still no go...
Old 12-02-10 | 06:25 PM
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Last edited by blackrotary23; 12-02-10 at 06:27 PM. Reason: bad link
Old 12-02-10 | 06:26 PM
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http://www.glowfoto.com/static_image.../img6/glowfoto
Old 12-02-10 | 07:06 PM
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OK.
You should be able to jumper the yellow from the ignition to the brown on the relay- effectively bypassing the thermoswitch- and activate the fan.
If it works, all your wiring is correct and the switch is the problem.
Old 12-02-10 | 07:27 PM
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ok. but i just bought this brand new. should i get the stock switch that goes into the bottom of the radiator specifically for the rx7?
Old 12-02-10 | 07:28 PM
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ok i see what you are saying. i already did that and the fan did come on. where can i find the switch locally? autozone has none, i already checked on it.
Old 12-02-10 | 08:28 PM
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is there a switch identical to the one i need that may fit another vehicle i could get?
Old 12-02-10 | 10:03 PM
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NAPA has billions of thermoswitches.
All you need to know is the thread size and the temp you want.
Old 12-02-10 | 11:56 PM
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Sounds like a lot of effort to get that fan. I think my friend, he was using a switch to activate the fan and had the fan running on all times when he was driving.

He had to turn off the switch when the car is off or else his battery drains.

That's how he handled his rx7 when he added an electrical fan.
Old 12-03-10 | 12:06 AM
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Originally Posted by clokker
NAPA has billions of thermoswitches.
All you need to know is the thread size and the temp you want.
cool, thanks for the advice.
Old 12-03-10 | 01:19 AM
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Originally Posted by blackrotary23
ok. but i just bought this brand new. should i get the stock switch that goes into the bottom of the radiator specifically for the rx7?
The switch that goes in the bottom of the radiator is not for a fan. It switches around 65F, and is used by the ECU for a completely different purpose. This is also not a very good place for a thermo-switch for a couple reasons: 1) it won't actually be in the coolant, and 2) it's on the colder side of the radiator. I tried this location with a 195F switch, and the fan did not come on until about 210F.
Old 12-03-10 | 10:09 AM
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Originally Posted by visitor86
Sounds like a lot of effort to get that fan. I think my friend, he was using a switch to activate the fan and had the fan running on all times when he was driving.

He had to turn off the switch when the car is off or else his battery drains.

That's how he handled his rx7 when he added an electrical fan.
Your friend did it wrong.
IMO, the entire point of swapping to an efan is to exploit the control it offers.
If you're just going to run it all the time, the efan is no better- and more complex- than the stock thermoclutch setup.

Manual control of the fan means constantly monitoring the temp and trying to anticipate situations that may require extra cooling (like sitting through a few left turn light cycles)...attention better spent on actually driving instead of nursing the cooling system.
Old 12-03-10 | 11:46 AM
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well then, does the coolant temp switch even have 2 prongs? and where exactly is it located then?
Old 12-03-10 | 03:28 PM
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https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-gen-archive-72/diy-electric-fan-shroud-808292/

There's a wiring schematic for it here as well. I went down to autozone and grabbed a fan relay kit for it, but that was a bad idea. Turns out that you can start a small fire with the A/C diode. It's supposed to prevent the compressor from coming on every time the fan starts, but mine burned right up after a few cycles of the fan.

I mounted the fan switch on the thermostat housing. Just drill a little hole and tap it then screw the switch in. Some switches have a single lead, which will ground when the temp is high enough. Others have 2 leads, so one needs to go to ground, the other goes to the relay.

I ditched the thermoswitch though, and it's now controlled by my standalone.
Old 12-03-10 | 05:47 PM
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well, what does the switch with the two prongs on the bottom driverside of the radiator do? that is the only thing i can think of as being a coolant temp switch.
Old 12-03-10 | 07:51 PM
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Originally Posted by blackrotary23
well then, does the coolant temp switch even have 2 prongs? and where exactly is it located then?
Unless you have an automatic or a TII, you don't have a temperature switch used for a fan. You have to get your own, and find a mounting location.

Originally Posted by blackrotary23
well, what does the switch with the two prongs on the bottom driverside of the radiator do? that is the only thing i can think of as being a coolant temp switch.
Read post #18. It is related to the relief solenoid and the 3000 RPM start up function, and it switches at only ~65F.
Old 12-03-10 | 08:01 PM
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Originally Posted by clokker
NAPA has billions of thermoswitches.
All you need to know is the thread size and the temp you want.
Yes. Use one meant for an OEM application.
Old 12-04-10 | 01:47 PM
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the radiator is originally from an s4 and it had the cooling fans on it. that is why i am asking these questions and getting more and more confused. i went to napa and they looked up the temp switch for me and it pulled up an exact picture of the switch in the lower driverside of the radiator. the one prong switch is a sensor, not a switch. how about this, ill hook it all back up and try to connect it to the one on the radiator and ill let everyone know what happens then we can go from there. i just dont want to do alot of work to try to get this fan to come on automatically if you get my drift.



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