1996 Nissan Maxima
5 Speed
156,xxx miles.
New thermostat approx 9 months ago.
New ECTS approx 5 months ago.
So i'm at the campus parkinglot and I noticed after I parked I noticed the needle was almost in the over heating notch. I checked my res and radiator after class. They were both fine. But I noticed my fans were not spinning at all. After driving home approx 15 minutes. It didn't overheat at all. But once I parked at home the needle slowly climbed back up to hot. I don't see anything below my radiator like leaks in that manor. Could it be just the fans being dead causing it to overheat?

 

That's most likely it!!!

 

That's what I'm thinking. But I wanna see if anyone else experienced this before. I checked out the part for the fan, it's 200 from Advanced Auto Parts!!

 

Sounds like a fan issue, however test them to make sure before you go dump a bunch of money into new fans only to find out it was a relay or something silly. Have you checked the fuses? Start there of course and start trouble shooting. The reason the temps climb after you shut down is that the WP is moving the water with the engine running - but when stopped, there's no coolant flowing and it causes the temp to shoot up.

Starting on pg (1998 FSM) EC-430 it goes through the process of trouble shooting this issue. You can always hit the fan (at the connector) with 12v and see if they spin to test them easily. It would be odd that both fans would go out, keep this in mind. Check fuses, hit the fans with 12v (use a jumper wire and just disconect the plug for the fan(s) and see what you get. You'll need a gnd lead too.

 

It's getting dark out now, I think I'll have to test that out tomorrow. I checked the fuses for the fans and they seemed to be in tack and not blown. When should the fans actually spin? When the A/C or Heater is on?

 

thats prolly the easist way the fans should be blowin any time the ac is on so if they re not definitly your problem as for replacing it the same part is ideal but you could always retrofit with some fans from summit i know for my foxbody theyre dirt cheap there

 

Yup, my friend told me the same thing just now. If I have my A/C on full blast and the fans aren't spinning, it's the fans. i think I am gonna go the OEM route..Anyone around the king of Prussia/Norristown area wanna help me to attempt to change the fans tomorrow!!

 

well i believe it could still just be the relays even if the a/c is trying to force em on and they're still not going on.

 

Did the fans spin?

 

So I finished my bake earlier tonight, so I decided to look at the car. I popped open the fuse box and there is was, the green Fan #1 Fuse was blown. I must have missed it. Since nothing is open right now (4:49A.M) I will go look for one tomorrow. Would this Fan #1 Fuse cause both fans not to work??

 

Yes it can, mine had the same issue a while back and it was a simple few dollar part that fixed it all. Good thing you didn't go out and spend the $200+ on new fans. BTW, in the future if you do end up needing some new fans consider going to a local parts yard used fans are super inexpensive and they are OEM, granted used but for the price it's worth it.

 

Do you know why would the fuse blow in the beginning though? Yeah, I am thankful it's not going to be costly to fix. BTW, I was just in Salt Lake City airport a month ago, I had a 3 hour transfer there. Nice airport..

 

0.03 cent fuse vs $200 fan asmby ???? Hummmmm ...... lol Glad you found the fuse! It could have popped for any reason, if it continues - it's a problem then. I have never in all my years of driving had my fan(s) stop becasue they were bad, usually something else causing the problem. The fan motor(s) are just coils of wire, like any other motor, so for them to go bad is unlikely.

Anyway ... fixed for now, so good deal!

 

A bad motor pulling to many amps (Internal short) would pop a fuse.

 

I went to Pep Boys looking for the fuse, They didn't have it. So I had to go to the Nissan to pick one up. It was a special order fuse, thank God someone ordered it and never picked it up. Popped the fuse in and they spin! Also when I was there, I ran into this sexy beast..



Thanks everyone for all your input and help. Without this forum, I'm 90% sure the mechanic would've told me to replace my fans.