95 engine cooling fan

Here's my problem.
I have a 95 SL1 that overheated today. The cooling fan did not switch on.
I first checked the fuse and saw that it was blown and I replaced it.
I then disconnected the connector to the fan motor, connected up a jumper
and the fan ran fine.
I reconnected everything and allowed the engine to warm up, the fan would
not kick in.

I checked the fuse and it was blown ... again so somewhere I must have a
short.

Any ideas on where to look?
Is it possible the motor could be bad requiring extra amps at startup?
or
Could it be a temp semsor? but I kind of doubt it.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Did you check the fan relay? Disconnect the battery and then move the
fan with your hand. Is it binding up?

 

I swapped out the fan relay from my other Saturn to this one.
The fan does move smoothly.

 

Okay,

Does the fan come on when the A/C comes on? If so, the fan motor is
probably fine. If not, the motor, or the relay, is shot.

If the fan comes on with the A/C, but not with a high engine temp, perhaps
the Coolant Temp Sensor ($30 after market) might be bad. I replaced mine,
but it didn't do any good...so I'm still in the same situation. Engine
heats more than it historically has.

If the engine gets too hot, I just turn on the A/C and the fan cools it
right back down.

It's not a fix, but it works in the interim.

Good luck
B

 

Barry suggested the right things like CTS, relay, motor, etc. To
clarify/elaborate a bit:

Only let the A/C run long enough to make the cooling fan come on.
Otherwise, you're compounding the problem because of the additional heat
generated by the compressor and the increased load on the engine.

If you really get into trouble, you can bleed some heat off the engine
by rolling down the windows and turning on the heater (not the A/C) full
blast. Making sure the cooling fan runs when it should typically works
much better tho.

-rj
98SL2

 

It turned out to be the motor, the motor did work but it always blew the
fuse by drawing too many amps at start up. I had on laying around from
another Saturn.

Thanks for all your help.