Honda Car Forum

My car started overheating and started smoking pretty quickly. I checked it out and noticed that neither of the fans are running. what could cause this?

first, find out if they are both really not running by starting the car and turning on the air conditioning. then check them. turning on the air conditioning automatically turns on the a/c condensor fan. if that works, then you can drive with the a/c on until you can get the radiator fan working.































there are three reasons why the fan won't workj--the actual fan motor may be burnt out, the main relay may be open circuited or the fan temp sensor switch may be open circuited.































the easist to test is the fan relay. that is in the underhood fuse and relay box on the passenger rear of the engine compartment. the relay locations are shown on the underside oft he cover. you can simply swap relays with any of the others that have the same pin configuation (they are almost all the same) and run the car to temp. if the fan doesn't come on, the relay is not the cause.































the temps switch is on the thermostat outlet and looks like the coolant temperature sensor. that rarely goes bad.































the test for the motor is to simply use a fused 12 volt jumper to the fan connector. if the fan runs with power then the problem would be with the temp switch. if the fan doesn't run with direct power then the motor is burnt out.































it is possible that both fan motors are burnt out with one having burnt out quite a while back and never noticed and then the second burning out now leaving you with no auxillary cooling. if the condensor fan doesn't come on when you turn the a/c on then its almost always the condensor fan motor burnt out.































hope that helps

There's a 7.5 amp fuse in the "under dash fuse box" (fuse # 17) that supplies power to control both radiator fan and condenser fan circuits. Check that first, if it's blown, you need a qualified technician to check the reason of overcurrent in those circuits.

get some fans at the junkyard. i had the same problem this year. and i live in phoenix, az where AC and keeping your car cool at the same time is crucial. you can buy new ones, but they are pretty expensive. you can also buy just the electric motors and replace them instead of replacing the entire assembly.

The fans do not have power do to a blown fuse.































The temp switch to turn the fans is bad, so they do not turn on.































The fan relay may be bad.