Ok, my cooling fans arent working, damn thing almost overheated on me but luckily I caught it and pulled over.

Got out my test light and Haynes manual and ran all the continuity tests on the relays, they test out just fine, but when I ran the tests on the slots in the relay box itself, I came out a little bit odd.

Ok, according to the manual heres what should happen -

Slot 1, power all the time.
Slot 5, power with key on only.

Heres whats actually happening -

Slot 1, Dead all the time.
Slot 5, power all the time, regardless of key on or off.

Any idea where to start? Sounds like a short in the system but not being familiar with these cars yet I'd like to know where you all recommend starting to trace the problem and try to figure this out. I have to do alot of stop and go driving, so the car is essentially out of commision until I figure this out.

Thanks folks!

 

Quick update..

With the engine up to temp and the heat on the A/C fan will cut on and will cool the car down but only with the heat running. Otherwise it wont cool itself at idle... Normal driving its completely fine.

Relays all test ok, fans when run straight to the battery kick on just fine. Just replaced the ECT sensor, even though no code was being thrown and now have to wait for some silicone to dry on the intake elbow (It was ripped badly and I didnt know it.. this is a temp fix while I locate a new one) then I'll see if that helped, hindered or didnt do anything at all.

Any suggestions? lol. A friend of mine mentioned a $27 relay you attach to your radiator and adjust for certain temps that I can run inline to a fan and bypass the stock system... but *shrug*..

Ill report back as I'm able.

 

I don't know what you mean by slot 1 and slot 5. There are 3 fan relays.
You can look at 1995 late production fan schematics here . The only real difference for your 1996 is that the fuse has constant power and is not switched.

 

Sorry for not clarifying.

When you remove the relays there are 5 slots the prongs of the relays plug in to in the relay/fuse block itself. Probing these with my multimeter netted me the above mentioned, and as I understand it, incorrect, results. The results were the same for each of the three relays. all the relays themselves passed the tests listed in the book for continuity.

 

I think you need to look at the schematic some more. What you say is "correct" is not correct for all three relays.

 

I'll go over the schematic you listed, thank you.

I'm simply going by what my Haynes manual is telling me as far as how to test each relay and how to test the fuse block connections themselves.

Thank you for the link, I'll see what i can manage and report back!