MattB

tomorrow i need to get a lot done and i decided im just going to wire my front electric fan up so its just always on with the car. is there any reason i shouldnt do this or have people done this in the past successfully. the other day i was driving home and my car got real hot and i ended up pulling over because my coolant was all going into the puke bucket......i sat for like an hour letting it cool down then i put coolant back in and drove home no problem. is this fan going to make that much of a difference in temp? i am usually around half on the gauge but every once in a while it might go up a little higher...

ian99rt

iTrader: (7)

Wiring the fan to be on constantly is pretty much defeating the purpose of having one. An electric fan is helpful b/c its not on at all when it doens't need to be. having an E-fan on all the time 1) puts extra strain on the electrical system, 2) can kill your battery if you forget about i, 3) means you problably are wiring it without a relay which is a big no no.

Get a thermoswitch and relay to wire it correctly... other then that good luck

NZConvertible

What he said. If you're going to do this do it the right way.

Is there a reason why you need to replace the stock fan?

MattB

no i am leaving the stock clutch fan on there. but the electric fain in front of the radiator doesnt turn on. i disconnected the green wire next to my alternator and i was told my fan would come on if that was disconnected...it didnt. i dont know whats wrong with the wiring so im not sure what to do at this point other than to wire it up to be on when turn the car on...

ian99rt

iTrader: (7)

are you talking about the A/C fan? Correct me if i'm wrong but that fan is not/barely used for cooling the engine what so ever, its there to remove heat from the A/C Condensor thus allowing your A/C to work. The fan-a/c are relays under the front hood latch panel i believe.

If the electric fan is not working: 1) Find the relay and use a test wire to see if you can energize the circuit. 2) Use a test wire to check the fan itself. If those two seem okay then i'm out of ideas

razorback

the little stock ac fan sucks for cooling the engine, if you dont have your a/c then i see no reason to keep it on there.

91mazdarx7

i wouldn't worry about wiring itup it won't cool your engine down that much at all if you still have a/c then you should fix it so it helps cool down the a/c system

MattB

then im gonna need a flex fan because my engine runs too hot....


where do i find one for cheap?

HAILERS

I've had the stock mechanical fan shroud off before and had a rebuild idling. The water temps rose until the little electric fan came on. It dropped the water temps like a rock. So pulled the green/black wire off the sensor so it would run constantly while I had the engine idling.

On any normal car that has the little fan installed as stock, if the green/black wire is disconnected from its thermo switch, the fan will come on any time the key is to ON. That is because the green/black wire being off lets a relay relax and make a GROUND circuit to the fan. THAT relay I THINK (no manual right now) is in the fan relay control unit in the passengers foot well. Grey in color and about three inches by three inches.

If I were you and in a hurry, I'd go to the fan plug and see if there is 12v on one of the two wires. There should be. What turns the fan on is a ground signal since it SHOULD have 12vdc there any time the key is to ON. If you find there is 12vdc there, then what you might do is get a piece of wire and splice it to that ground wire and terminate the other end of your new wire to any chassis bolt nearby. I dd that when I was in a jam a couple of weeks ago.

If you don't find 12v on one of the two wires on the fan plug (key to ON please), then write back and ask what fuse it is that feeds it . No manual available with me right now.

MattB

yeah i measured at those two points and got no voltage. i took the green wire off and the fan didnt turn on. is it as simple as a blown fuse or relay?

HAILERS

Probably just a fuse. No manual/diagram where I am right now. I'll look later and let you know.

HAILERS

Try the fuse called COOLING FAN. Second row from the bottom, far right.

MattB

ill take a look tomorrow before i go to work....then ill post back when i get to work

1RX7DRIVER

i put an efan in my car and it runs cooler then it did with the stock fan, i also have my fan on at all times but it runs threw a relay.

Mint87RX7

ok does somebody have a picture of this stock electric fan? none of my 7s have had one and all had a/c

razorback

ill get one tomorrow.

MattB

so i checked the fuse and its fine....could it just be faulty wiring. being 18 years old i wouldnt doubt that the wires have just frayed.

Any Ideas?

HAILERS

I'm not big on faulty wiring being the fault. The path for the 12vdc is from the 80amp fuse in the engine bay to the ignition switch on a single black wire. We KNOW this is good because your car starts and runs off this same wire. It leaves the ignition switch on a Black/Red wire and goes to that Fan Fuse. We should know that Black/Red wire is good IF your wipers work at all because it feeds wipers also.

It leaves the fan fuse on a Yellow wire and goes directly to the Fan electrical plug. That is a two socket plug. One wire is yellow and other is Yellow/Black. The Yellow/Black goes to the Electrical Fan Relay which is located in front of the radiator with those other relays. That Yellow/Black is for the ground for the fan.

If you just want to get the fan to work when the key is to ON or better, there are several plugs not being used that are located in the area around those relays in front of the fan. Usually the power wire on one of the unused plugs will be Black/White or Black/Yellow. You'd still need a ground but you could make one and attach it to a nearby 10mm size bolt. I'd recommend finding out why the original wire does not have 12vdc. Key has to be ON to have voltage at the fan plug. Yellow wire of the two.

If you look at one of the threads at the beginning of this site, you'll find one that has FAQ in the title. If you click on it, about halfway down that thread you'll see a jpg of the interior fuse box and the location of the FAN FUSE. The box is near your left ankle when the plastic fairing is removed from that area.

MattB

so i think i remember looking at these relays and they didnt look like they were mounted very well. im not sure but i think they were kinda hanging there not too tight. maybe from bouncing around like that something simply came loose. on my lunch break today ill take a quick look and see what i can do. the closest mazda dealer is about a half hour from my house so its tough for me to get OEM parts if i need a new thermostat or relay but itll be worth it.

id rather get it working correctly if possible but i need my car to stop over heating.


im going to start running almost all water instead of 50/50 because its summer and i dont need to worry about it freezing. if i remember correctly, water will transfer heat better and keep my car cooler. if im wrong correct me but im pretty sure it would help with the heat.


-Matt

HAILERS

From the attached jpg, you can see that as far as the 12vdc goes, there is no relay involved at all. So don't go out buying a relay. Follow the red dots in the jpg and you see the batt....80amp fuse......ignition switch......a fuse that is the COOLING FAN fuse.....then the plug at the cooling fan itself.

So if 12vdc isn't there, it's not because of a relay.

An overheating engine can be some very grim things so I won't guess.

HAILERS

A cooling fan looks like this jpg of one with a nickel inserted in the jpg to give a sense of the size of it. This is the stock a/c cooling fan that sits in front of the condenser.

MattB

okay so if my car runs...that gets rid of part of what could be a problem...my wipers work...that eliminates more....whats next? thermostat?

im assuming that if i supply 12 volts there the fan will work like normal. from what i understand....the way it is activated is by some control supplying ground. 12 volts is always there and its just waiting for a ground connection.

since my 12 volts isnt there i guess thats my next step. get the required 12 volts supplied and then it should work. if not that means there is some sort of grounding problem....

im new to car so is this correct?

MattB

from that schematic i can see that the relay is on the ground side. this must mean that if i have 12 volts then the relay could be broken. since i dont even have the 12 volts i dont need to worry about that until the fan has the 12 volts it wants. cant i just run a new 12 volt line and that would make it work like normal?

Mint87RX7

anyone know why only some FCs have these fans?

MattB

because only some FC's have air conditioning. this is the A/C condenser fan.