I noticed my TA is running hot. Getting to 240+ when idling. Found that the fans don't even appear to be coming on...even when I switch AC on. I had to drive to work with the heat on in 90+ degree heat...that sucked! :-)

I haven't done a search yet, but I guess it could be temp sensor(s) for fans, relay(s) for each fan, or fan motors.

Can anyone give me tips of where to start? What temps do these come on in a 96 Trans Am? 210/230? I'm going to get out my test light and start poking around when I get home from work but maybe you guys can give me a hint. It's got 85,000 miles...I may just go and pick up two new fans regardless of what I find.

Thanks

 

Is the waterpump working? check to see if there is any action in the radiator. Make sure thermostat works.

 

I believe it is. With the cap off I could see coolant entering the radiator. Not sure about the thermostat since I didn't check the upper hose.

But if the fans aren't turning on that's the big problem, right? Even if the waterpump and thermostat are bad fans should still get the signal to turn on...

 

I had the same problem so I replaced both of the coolant temp sensors and that did nothing. So I bought a manual fan switch from Speed Specialty and now I can put the fans on whenever I want and works great, found it to be much easier than trying to replace a bunch of things to try to pinpoint the problem.

 

You might find something useful in here.

 

Try this first,switch the fan relay with a different one in the relay box to rule out the relay.

 

Thanks for the tips and the article guys....I'll check it out tonite...

 

Yea, sounds like your fan relays may be the problem.

 

I grounded the blue and green wires on the C100 connector and the fans came on fine so my relays and motors are good... Fans DO NOT come on when I jump terminals 5 & 6 on the DLC.

I'm thinking Coolant Temp Sensor...I'm going to hook it up to my scanner software to see if it's the culprit...

Hopefully autozone carries these...

 

Hooked it up to my scanner and I watched coolant temp sensor go to 189 then it showed -36??? Then it came back to reality and I watched it go from 200 up past 226 and no low speed fan. It got up to 232 and I lost communication!? Now my car is puking coolant in my garage. This sucks!

I've lost communications with the DLC 2 or 3 times. Now I can't get it back.

Again, jumping terminals 5 & 6 DID NOT turn fans on but I grounded the blue and green wires on C100 and they did....Do I have a bad PCM???

Thanks for your help guys.

 

Got it wired up with a manual fan switch for now. Def. thinking bad PCM.

 

If you definately think it's the pcm pm madwolf, I'm sure he can hook you up with one.

 

I thing i have found the answer to this problem, i had the same task in front of me when my my dad and I rebuilt my 1994 trans am. What we had found was the water temperature sending unit that is in the water pump was not getting ground. so we wraped a wire around the sending unit to the intake to make a ground but you can do it anywhere you want. I quess because of the sealer on the sending unit it wasnt making contact because we just replaced it.....so try it, it might work it did for mine and now my fans come on before 210 ...........good luck

 

Both fans should come on when the a/c is on, regardless of what the coolant sensors are reading. If they do not, I would look at the PCM or the wiring from the PCM to the relays. Do you have an aftermarket tune or stock?

 

Thanks man. I don't think mine is the sensor because when I put it on the scanner it's showing temps rising up to well above 220...I think if the sensor werent grounding I wouldn't be getting voltages from it.

And, smoknta, my fans don't seem to come on with the AC either...but my freon is low, so perhaps I'm not getting the system pressure up high enough to kick the fans on...

I plan to buy a PCM this week...I really don't like relying on the fan switch. I've killed my battery twice at work by leaving it on (the low fan is quiet) plus it's a pain to think about it.