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Cooling fan not working

Tiny
FADGE
  • MEMBER
  • 2001 PONTIAC SUNFIRE
  • 340,000 MILES
Cooling fan not working. Get code p0480. Changed relay, checked fuse (has a 60A even though its supposed to be 30a but its fine) Checked to see if fan ceased.
Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 2:16 AM

20 Replies

Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
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First, put the 30 back in before you have a fire. You need a scan tool to monitor the temp of the motor to verify it is reaching 209 degrees c for it to turn on.

Roy
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 2:20 AM
Tiny
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Oh the motor is reaching a high temp. About 3/4 of the heating gauge. I have a ODB reader. Not sure if this is the same as a scan tool.
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 2:22 AM
Tiny
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No, just a code reader, no data.

Remove the wire from the coolant sensor, the one by the thermostat and the fan should come on. Test this

Roy
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 2:29 AM
Tiny
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I have attached a pic. Not sure if this is the coolant sensor. When pulled, fan didnt turn on and engine ran all shaky
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 2:19 PM
Tiny
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No, the coolant sensor is on the other side by where the upper hose attaches to the head.

It is on the top right hand part of the motor. It looks like it is on a pipe toward the firewall in a coolant line. It has 2 wires on it.

Roy
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 3:10 PM
Tiny
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Would you have a picture of this? Ive been looking for what your describing and the only plug I can see attached to any coolant lines is the pic of what ive already shown you. Ive located what I think to be the thermostate housing and it is almost directly under the area of the pic Ive attached.

I hate cars! Lol
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 3:45 PM
Tiny
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Do you have the 2.2 or 2.4 motor?

Roy
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 3:56 PM
Tiny
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Not sure, its a 4 cyl and says 2200 efi on the top of it.
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 4:02 PM
Tiny
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Try this
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 4:05 PM
Tiny
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Oh ok so yeah, thats the same pic as I posted. Thats the plug I pulled. But its located on the front left of the motor (front being the front of car). When I did this, the fan didnt turn on, and in top of that, I started the car and the engine was shaking like crazy. Once I turned the car off and re-plugged this plug, the car ran fine again.
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 4:08 PM
Tiny
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Ok, then there is a fan relay that needs to be checked as we have a wiring issue here. Can you hot wire the fan to verify it works?

Roy
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 4:12 PM
Tiny
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I can try! HAHA I would assume if I just connected two wires to the wires going into the fan and then ran them directly to the battery this would work?
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 4:14 PM
Tiny
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Find this relay in the left front fuse box

Roy
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 4:14 PM
Tiny
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Ive replaced the relay and checked the fuse. I will need to replace the fuse as its to high. Not sure what more I can do at the fuse box, or are you saying to run my wires from the battery to the wires going into the fuse box at the fuse or relay?
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 4:24 PM
Tiny
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No, does the fan come on with the ac? If it does not, you need to hot wire the fan to see if it works.

Roy
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 5:07 PM
Tiny
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Fan does not turn on when A/C is on. Heating fan does but not the cooling fan. So would I just attach two wires to the plug going into the fan and then run those directly to the battery to see if the fan turns on that way?
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 5:32 PM
Tiny
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Ok so I hooked the fan up directly to the battery and it fired up. So what now? Lol
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 5:52 PM
Tiny
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Ok so just an update. I hooked up just a ground wire to see if the ground was simply lost on the fan. I then turned the AC on and the fan didnt turn on. So I then unhooked the new ground and hooked up just a power wire to the battery and the fan turned on. So I think that tells me the ground is fine.

So this means the fuse is fine, the ground is fine, and the relay is fine. What more could be the issue?
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Sunday, September 9th, 2012 AT 6:57 PM
Tiny
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Where did you put the bypass? At the fan? If you did, that does not check the relay. That is the controlled item. The issue now lies with control. The pcm sees the temp, grounds the relay so the fan turns on when needed.

The next step is to check the wiring from the relay back to the pacm.

Roy
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Monday, September 10th, 2012 AT 12:04 AM
Tiny
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Here is the wiring diagram for the fan and relay
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Monday, September 10th, 2012 AT 12:06 AM

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