I just had my thermostat, water pump, and belts changed and afterwards the guy told me that my radiator fans wouldn't turn on. The temperature was normal, like it's always been, and I stood there with the guy and watched the car run for about 5 to 10 minutes but they didn't turn on. Is this normal? I figured since the temperature was normal that they weren't going to turn on but the mechanic seemed pretty alarmed. I've never had a problem with overheating at all, should I be concerned?

Thanks

 

try turning on your A/C that should kick them on if not check fuses and ralays

 

I don't know if you know and trust this mechanic or not, but before you cough up money to fix a nonexistant problem, do what the other poster suggested - run your A/C and see if they kick in. Otherwise, you may have to wait much longer than 5 or 10 minutes for the fans to come on depending on the ambient temperature. Make sure your heater is off as well, so you're not losing heat that way. Just as an example, I changed my tranny fluid today, and while I was checking the level and topping up, almost 15 minutes went by before the fans kicked in (and even then they were only on low speed - the ambient is around 0 celsius where I am).

 

All fuses were checked and he turned the A/C on and did what has been suggested. And i'm not about to cough up anything, I figured it needed more time. After I get to school tomorrow I'll check to see if they're on before I turn the car off, the drive is about 30 minutes so that should be enough time.

 

in 30 min. time frame they can easily have turned on and off, so that is not a good test.
You'd be better of letting the car run for a bit with a piece of cardboard blocking the radiator and watch your temp gauge to see what it does. don't forget to throw some revs up while you're doing this test.

 

Depending on the ambient temperature, they may not come on at all. Just the force of air blowing past the rad as you drive is enough to keep the coolant from getting hot enough to trigger the sensor that turns the fan on. Also, the fans cycle on and off as coolant temps rise and fall. After your 30 min drive, the fans may have just cycled off and the car will have to sit for a while till it gets hot enough to run the fans again As internetautomar suggested, let it sit and see what happens.

If they still don't come on, check your fusible link in the engine bay. I had mine blow on my old 2nd gen max and the fans were DOA.

 

Ok these fans are not working. The car has overheated 2 or 3 times this week. When I'm driving on the freeway it's fine, I'm guessing b/c of the air it's getting. But if I'm in a drive thru waiting or stuck in stop and go traffic, it starts heating up. How do I know if the link in the engine bay is blown? There are two areas with fuses, one has 1 fuse for the radiator fans and the other has like three.

 

you have to pull the fuses out and check them with a mutimeter, and do and check to see is current can get through it, or an ohm meter will work. If you get any readings between the two leads the fuses are fine, but if you get nothing, you need to replace them, I believe the fuses have three leads coming off, but i certain. If you don't wanna do all that, you can just buy the three new fuses, and just elinminate that as even a possibility

 

Thanks for the help

 

Where can I find the three ones that are together? The 45A one I saw at the store, but it seems like I'm going to have a hard time finding those three.

 

You might have to call a dealership up, but i thought i saw them at autozone

 

Is there anything else that could be keeping the fans from not turning on? The 45 fuse is good.

 

Radiator Fan switch possibly.

 

Where is it?

 

usually on the radiator or cylinder head.