CRXSIonfire

well summer is coming up and the past few days i have been dangerously close to overheating. i discovered that my fan wasnt coming on when it was suppost to.

Here is what i found to be the problem with my 89 crx si. The thermal fan switch was broken with mine but it could be something else with yours and I'll touch on other problems too.

Parts you'll need (for thermal fan switch problems):
New thermal fan switch (Autozone-$20-35)
Coolant (Autozone-$10)

Tools you'll need:
Plyers
Ohm meter
1-1/16 socket
1/2 driver
I need alot of towels, but I'm sure it possible to do it neater

Start!
First start by unpluging the fan and removing it. Take two wires (i used speaker wires) and touch the wires to the 2 prongs and to the + and - ends of the battery. If the fan doesn't turn on, switch the wires from prong to prong to make sure you didn't have the + and - mixed up. If the fan doesn't turn on then the problem lies with the fan motor. Get a new fan you lucky freak. For the rest of us, we have to replace the thermal fan switch.

Ok now lets get down to it. The thermal fan switch is located on the back of the engine block (above the oil filter) or at the bottom of the radiator. This is in the engine block and if you unscrew it, you will be sprayed with coolant. This means you have to drain the coolant.

Do this by unscrewing the drain bolt out of the bottom of the radiator. There is also a drain bolt in the side of the block under the headers. I striped that one so...I didn't drain the block. If you can drain the block, disregaurd the NOTE

Before you unscrew the thermal fan switch, take the 2 wire off of it. Its a weird plastic connector and I ended up just yanking really hard with plyers and they came off with out breaking so it worked. THE TEST: reconnect the fan back into the circut and use the two speaker wires to connect the 2 wires from the thermal fan switch to the battery, the fan should turn on. If it doesn't you have bigger problems than me and I would check the connection in the circut and then take it to a repair shop.

Now grab the bucket from the bottom of the radiator and put it with in hands reach while lying under the car. Use the 1-1/16 socket and 1/2 inch drive to loosen the old thermal fan switch. I was worried about stripping it, but it was very easy to remove. NOTE: Don't have nice clothes on now, cause once the thermal fan switch is loose, coolant is going to spray out of there like "old faithful". (I ruined 2 shirts....).

Let the coolant drain and put the new thermal fan switch in. Reattach the wires and hope you got the wires right. (There will be a test that will determine if you did later)

Put all the plugs and screws (from fan) back in and put the fan back on and connect the fan back into the circut.

Put your proper 50/50 coolant/water mix in the radiator

Since I had "old faithful" under the car, I rinsed the bottom of the car off with water to aviod that "burnt coolant" smell.

Turn on the car and let it warm up to normal opperating temp. and once you go above that temp. the fan should kick on. If it doesn't, you'll have to switch those 2 wires on the thermal fan switch prongs. It worked the first time for me, so it might no matter which wire goes on which prong.

If all else fails, you can wire the fan to a switch that you control in the car.

Thats it. Let me know if there is anything incorrect. And rate my car if ya want!

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John@ProStreet

nice work

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CRXSIonfire

thanks! the sound of that fan turning on is the best sound in the world!

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Quik

great writeup

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sometimes i ban slow, sometimes i ban Quik

GSRTURBO

good work bro

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-Brandon
DD '92 Civic VX - B18C1 swap - 8spi t04r

kodyaccord

good right up but didnt in 89 honda use standard bolt sizes... just giving you a hard time you did good work. also though I think it is a 24mm socket or 25 will have a better fit for future reference