Cooling Fan Problem

[Sundance Kid]

My car is a 96 griff 500.

The problem I have is that only one fan is working. (both fans were working until recently).

And I cannot find whats going on.

Firsly I have checked the fuse, its ok. (on my car there is one fuse for both fans & not a fuse for each)

If I connect the non-working fan to a 12 volt battery it works, so I know the fan it's self is not NFG.

I have also 'sorted out' the plugs that connect the fans, (they did look a bit 'iffy') but still no luck getting the second fan working.

I would be greatful of any suggestions, I'm sure there must be someone else who's had the same problem

[Sundance Kid]

Just realised, I hav'nt checked the relay ?
Thinking about it, ...... how do you check it ??

Oh, and another thing, in the 'bible' it mentions a mod-wise conversion kit that can be used on single fuse - twin fan cars.... Whats that all about ?

[johno]

I have seem a system where the second fuse was not obvious, and indeed was tucked away in the engine bay.

Is there a second relay for the circuit you haven't found ?

If then it's a case of tracking back the wiring checking where it get's it's supply and earth ..

I have also seen one that was on a pre serp car with the additional fan earthed through some dodgy wiring to the alternator !!

[barreti]

The mod-wise kit is a simple to install temperature sensor and temp control dial which plugs into all the existing cabling.
At the temp you set on the dial, the fans kick in at half speed and the original Otter switch kicks them off at full speed.

There is also a new version which allows you to control the temp that each fan kicks in at.

[gingerprince]

Mine had a different fuse layout to all those shown in the bible when I had the same problem. Can't remember which fuse it was, but check all of them.

[spend]

You can 'discover' which relay switches each fan by testing continuity from the fan connector to the pin 87(s) of the relay receptacles in the fuse box.

that is
...---...
---.|..|***this one
...---...

You can quickly test if you have a 1 or 2 relay system system by checking continuity between both the fan connectors (test only fails if you have one relay and there is a broken wire).

Failing all else you can take the fuse box out and see where the big pink wires go. The internals of the fuse box are standard - just great changes in how they are wired up, & possibly subsequently 'modified'.

HTH, Dave

[pebbledash]

I would think if its the Standard TVR (that is, if those two words apply in a single sentance) set up on a 1996 griff, then each fan is fused seperatly, IIRC one is on the Horn fuse which is uprated to 40Amp.

Hope Shpup or other comes allong soon to clarify, if not I'll confirm when i get home and Insult my car


>> Edited by pebbledash on Monday 16th May 15:27

[BogBeast]

johno said:

I have seem a system where the second fuse was not obvious, and indeed was tucked away in the engine bay.

Not wrong, I had the same sort of problem. In addition to the fuse in the fuse board I had another in an inline fuse holder around the back of the fuse board (which had gone)

[B16 RFF]

pebbledash said:

I would think if its the Standard TVR (that is, if those two words apply in a single sentance) set up on a 1996 griff, then each fan is fused seperatly, IIRC one is on the Horn fuse which is uprated to 40Amp. Hope Shpup or other comes allong soon to clarify, if not I'll confirm when i get home and Insult my car >> Edited by pebbledash on Monday 16th May 15:27

I think I'm right in saying that the standard set up on a 96 car is to have a single 40 A fuse. However, a lot of cars were modified by dealers to have one fan fed from the horn fuse. So you really need to get your head in the footwell to find out exactly which setup you have.

Paul.

[B16 RFF]

Sundance Kid said:

My car is a 96 griff 500. The problem I have is that only one fan is working. (both fans were working until recently). And I cannot find whats going on. Firsly I have checked the fuse, its ok. (on my car there is one fuse for both fans & not a fuse for each) If I connect the non-working fan to a 12 volt battery it works, so I know the fan it's self is not NFG. I have also 'sorted out' the plugs that connect the fans, (they did look a bit 'iffy') but still no luck getting the second fan working. I would be greatful of any suggestions, I'm sure there must be someone else who's had the same problem

If the horn has also failed, changing the horn fuse will probably fix the fan as well.

Paul.

[Sundance Kid]

Thanks guys,

I really appreciate the help,

All the fuses are ok, already checked them and the horn works.

I'm currently trying to trace the wires back checking for breaks / bad earth etc, but no luck yet.

I hav'nt checked the relay yet either, struggling to follow the post on that subject, sorry, think i need an explanation in laymans terms.

[crackedfinger]

try switching the fan connectors over to see if it the same one not working (I have never done this but I think the connector plugs are next to each other between the fans) - you may have a dodgy fan?

[mongoose]

Sundance,if you have the same fuseboard layout as my old griff(late 1996 build),and i would suspect you have,then the following may prove usefull.The fan relay is no.1 and fuse is also no.1.The relay supply to the fans is from terminal 13(marked on the relay socket),this then goes to the lower of the fuse terminal,through the fuse,and out the top of the fuse to each of the fans via the yellow and brown connectors on the back of the board(labelled E and F),terminal 55 on each i think.This means that if your car hasnt had any modifications to the wiring for the fans,then for one to be working and the other not,either there is a break in the wiring from the fuseboard to the fan,or the fan is faulty.Check the connectors integrity again,and a good idea is to swap them over,checking for 12v if possible,as has already been mentioned.Its quite possible that an extra circuit has been added so that the fans are seperate(sometimes,this is crudely taken from the starter motor,or if done properly will be in the footwell).This is a very worthwhile mod,as it saves you suffering the burnt out fuseboard/fire in the footwell syndrome,thats not uncommon on these cars(£1400 bill on my first chim).I'd recommend this mod to anyone.Mail me if you want more info on any of the above,cheers,mike.

>> Edited by mongoose on Wednesday 18th May 10:26

[waggy]

I had same problem on my 1994 Griff,, the manual doesnt relate to the fusebox correctly,, after 2 days pulling the wiring apart i found Fan1 connected to Relay1 via fuse 1, and Fan2 connected to relay7 via fuse 3,, if you take the fusebox out carefully the pink wires from the fans connect to Brown Block pin3 and Yellow block pin1,, TVR as you guessed, do not wire all cars up the same so you may find it is totally different,,, if you want to chk the relays you can use the horn relay in position 4 which is usually the same relay,, good luck and be careful taking out fusebox as several plugs fell off when i done it and it took ages working out where they came from...

[stringbag]

Same as above really.
My last Griff's fan wiring had been altered by someone before I bought it to run on after the engine had been switched off. An annoyingly unreliable fan was cured when I took the fuse box out and found an additional and loose relay tucked behind the box.
Taking the fuse box out is fairly straight forward.
If you want to know how, just ask.
Good luck

[Sundance Kid]

I'm starting to get into it, but it looks like the fuse box will have to come out.

I've swapped the fan and horn relays over to test them, relays work ok.

In my car there is no relay in number 7, 8 or 10
so the second fan cant be running of a relay in slot 7

And tracing the wires back from the fans, they just go back into the loom, cant see any 'dodgy' wiring.

Any advice on getting the fuse box out would be welcomed

Thanks

[pebbledash]

the fuse box is bolted in.

Remove the battery first, Bolts in under the car. (mark its location first as this helps re-assembly.

then you may need a hand...

The bolt that holds it in (well it was on mine) goes right through the back of the passanger footwell and the nut is inside the front wheel arch.

Remover this and the fuze box comes loose.

It may help to remove the few zip ties that hold the wiring, and also the glove box, this way you dont have to stand no you head in the footwell, but can sit in the seat

HTH.

[Guillotine]

can be done with out removing the battery (its a pig to do)

removing battery leads maybe a good idea

[Sundance Kid]

I've just found the problem,

Thanks for all your help guys, well appreciated.

Glad I did'nt take the fuse box out.

On the battery + terminal as well as the main lead, there are two other red wires, one of them had come off. connect it again and the 2nd fan works.

Is this standard, or an aftermarket mod of some kind ?

[mongoose]

Sundance Kid said:

Is this standard, or an aftermarket mod of some kind ?

Sounds like the mod i mentioned,if so then your a lucky devil that someones already done it for you!