Hey guys,

I may or may not have a problem, and after searching, I can't seem to conclusively tell whether or not this behavior is expected, but here it goes...

I have noticed ever since it has gotten warm outside again, that often times when I have my air conditioning on, and the car has been running for a little while, my radiator fan is excessively loud, like much louder than it has ever been. Since this behavior has started, I have been closely watching my temperature, and I have not once seen it go above its normal threshold, despite even some spirited driving at times. Once I had time, I popped the hood to check it out, and it appears that my driver's side fan is not spinning whatsoever. My theory is that because it is not spinning, the car is spinning the other fan is faster to compensate, but I really don't know how the fan speed is controlled in this car, or if both fans usually spin or not, as it is not something I have paid attention to until now, so I can't be sure.

Can anybody enlighten me on whether or not this behavior is normal, and what I might have to replace if there is a problem? I'm not sure if the whole assembly has to be replaced, if you can just replace the motor and/or the bearings, or if you can buy individual fans. Sorry for the abundance of questions!

 

I think when the A/C is on, both fan should be on.

 

After looking at that, would you say it is likely then that my temperature and/or refrigerant pressure is getting a little higher than usual, and therefore my other fan is turning on "High" mode, and that's what I'm hearing? Would you say that usually both fans only run on "Low"?

 

it says fans, so I assume both fans should be running at the same speed at the same time.

 

For any of you who experience a similar problem, after doing a little bit of research, I seem to have discovered what all was going on here.

First of all, I was able to confirm that both fans always run at the same speed as one another, so if one is running, they should both be running. What I also discovered was that the reason why the other fan was so loud was because the engine was getting about 10 degrees warmer than usual, as a result of only having one fan running, which kicked the working fan into "High".

Therefore, I replaced the fan motor on the fan that was no longer working, and all was well. The fans now only operate on "Low", as both of them are working and the engine runs cool enough that it is not necessary for the fans to run on "High".

I hope this is helpful to anyone else who might have a similar problem. Also, props to jasonmax for that diagram, that was very helpful in figuring out the behavior of the fans in general.

 

nice info jasonmax....

 

I have the same problem. How can we get a replacement motor, and guides on replacing it? I just noticed this yesterday after fixing 100 other things on my freaking car. Its the exact problem your having.

 

You likely wont even need a guide. If you look at the fan assembly, it unbolts from the top of the radiator with two bolts. The bottom just sits inside, so you can basically lift the whole assembly out once you unplug the wiring harness. Once you have it out, it is rather simple to pull one of the fans out. You may want to call some local auto parts stores to see if they sell just one fan or just the motor, but I actually just got the whole assembly from a junkyard for cheap, pulled the motor out of that one, and put it in. The easiest way to get parts from a junkyard if you are on a tight budget is www.uneedapart.com, which will submit a request to hundreds of junkyards across the country who will email you a quote for how much they will sell it for. Hope all of this helps.

 

Just a heads up, I did the the website, guy got back to me in like 10 minutes, did a local search just for the motor for that fan and quoted me $155, where as NAPA Auto parts can sell me a new entire fan assembly (Both fans, motors, etc drop in drop out) for $145, so that junkyard site is it or miss at best. I told the guy he has got to be kidding lol. Sounded like he was from India too.

 

Normally, when I use that site, it takes about a day for all the salvage yards that have the part to email me with quotes, and I have always gotten a great price, so I don't know what to tell you there, but calling it "hit or miss at best" is probably a little far fetched from my experience. I used it to find the assembly I got, and it cost me $58 shipped to my front door. Either way, that should fix your problem, and it is indeed a breeze to install. Good luck!