[srtopitt]

I have an 89 GT with 144k miles on it. I just towed the car 2700 miles across country and it was great before today. Today is the first time I have driven it since towing it here. After I came off of the freeway, I was doing a bit of city driving and I noticed that the check engine light came on and the engine heat was spiked. I opened the hood and saw that the coolant was full but it was "bubbling". I checked my oil and it was very very low so I added about 3 quarts then drove the car 3 blocks to park after allowing it to cool. Four hours go by and I get in my car thinking that everything is good. Well it seemed great for about 10 mins and the engine heat indicator started to creep up again. I hit some traffic and while sitting there it almost spiked again but no check engine light. I decided to try and get it home. After getting on the freeway and getting up to speed, the indicator comes back down to halfway just as normal. Then I get off the freeway, and, you guessed it, as I am heading home, the indicator almost peaks again, but never goes all the way back up and no check engine light.

Anyone have any ideas? I would really appreciate some thoughts before I run off to a mechanic and get ripped off. Thanks for your help.

 

[FordMan59]

Sounds like the cooling fan isn't operating correctly. You are getting enough air through the radiator at highway speeds to keep the engine cool, but when in stop and go traffic it heats back up. Could be a blown fuse, bad temperature sensor, or the fan itself. Try straight wiring the fan directly to the battery to see if it is working or not. If it works then it's probalby either a fuse or temperature sensor.

 

[srtopitt]

Well I was thinking along those lines, but I am no mechanic by any stretch of the imagination. Do you know how to do what you suggested? I understand if you cant help further, but thought I would try. Or do you happen to know which fuse controls the fan or another way to check and see if the fan is coming on?

 

[FordMan59]

I know on the later model Escort the fan comes on when you turn on the A/C if it is working right. I'm not sure if this is true on the older Escorts or not. To straight wire it from the battery unplug the fan and probe the fan circuit plug with a digital multimeter to see which side is positive and which is negative then just run a wire from the appropriate side of the battery to the correct terminal on the fan motor to see if it runs or not. If you have the owners manual for the car there will be a diagram of the fuse panel in it and will tell what each fuse controls.

 

[srtopitt]

I just did some trouble shooting and found out the following.

The fan was not coming on at all with or without A/C. I started wiggling the plug that goes to the fan and it would kick on and off intermittently. This leads me to believe that the cannon plug is short. Either that or the motor is short. How difficult is it to replace a plug as i have never done that before.

 

[EscorGo]

... I checked my oil and it was very very low so I added about 3 quarts then drove the car 3 blocks to park after allowing it to cool.

You added 3 qts of oil !!! That means you were driving it with only 1 gt. I'm surprised you didn't burn up your bearings
Looks like you do have a fan problem though. You can get a harness from salvage and splice it in.

 

[denisond3]

The hardest part about replacing that plug is finding a new or good one to replace it with. And if one side is bad, the mating connector probably isnt so good either.
Anothe trick would be to just strip back the wires and solder them together, eliminating the connector.

I dont know about 1st gen. Escorts, but on the 2nd gen cars, there are a total of 3 relays that can go bad. Two of them are the low speed fan relay, and the high speed fan relay. The other one is a relay near the battery that is also in the fan circuit. Each of these 3 relays, and their connectors, have been known to go bad.
You might also have a fan that has dried out bearings, and was drawing too much current - so melted the plugs.

Sorry not to have an air tight solution. I have been driving my Dodge Omni with the fan wired to run whenever the engine is running - for a few years now. Even to do that I added my own relay, so the extra current wouldnt have to go through the ignition switch.

 

[srtopitt]

well i am pretty sure that it is the connector on the fan itself as that is the one that i can manipulate to get it to run. but youre right, it could be the mating jack on the fan itself. the problem is that i have called around to all the auto parts stores and noone has them and they all tell me that i have to go to a junk yard to try and get one out of another escort and splice it in. problem is that will need stop and go driving which i cannot do. so im kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place here. i may just try soldering the wires directly to the fan itself as you suggested. at this point in time i am not sure exactly what to do. i wish that i knew what i was doing and how to get the parts i need because i am sure that this would be an easy fix.

 

[zzyzzx]

The hardest part about replacing that plug is finding a new or good one to replace it with.

http://www.napaonline.com

Is it this connector:

Cooling Fan Motor Connector
Item#: ECHEC163
Price: $24.49

The NAPA website shows 25 different connectors.

I'd like to think that you could get it cheaper elsewhere.

 

[denisond3]

If you go to www.rockauto.com, put in your make, year, and model, and look in the listings for 'electrical connector', they show a Radiator Fan Motor Connector - at least one side of it. They dont show it for the 2nd gen. Escorts, so I guess they arent failing much - yet.

 

[srtopitt]

thanks for the help. i found the connector at rockauto and ordered it through a dealership since advanced and autozone didnt have them. the part will be in on monday. so hopefully i wont blow my engine up by then. i have been very very careful in my driving and have not allowed the car to overheat since it did it the first times. i will be back after i get the part. anyone know how to put the thing on once i get it?

 

[zzyzzx]

anyone know how to put the thing on once i get it?

you cut the old one out and solder in the new one. If you don't know how to solder find a friend who does.

 

[denisond3]

Make sure you wire the new connector the way the old one was - in terms of its polarity. You dont want the fan to be spinning backwards.
Sometimes the wires that were near the old connector get a little corroded, and may be hard to solder to. In those cases I use a soldering flux that has zinc chloride in it, to get the wires 'tinned' with solder. Then I use normal rosin core solder to join the wires from the new connector to the ends of the wires from the previous connector. Of course put electrical insulating tape around the wires. You might want to try cleaning the contacts on the fan a little bit, with a small screwdriver tip or something.

 

[srtopitt]

ok so here goes. i took the old connector apart comepletely and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. the contacs were snug, no corrosion. everything was fine. i got a multimeter and meterd for power which was good. i also checked for shorts to ground and there were none present. so the only thing that i could think to be bad was the motor for the fan. ran and grabbed one of those real fast, put it in with some help and voila!!! problem fixed. i was so set on the connector that i was blind to the motor for the fan. thanks everyone for your help and input. i really appreciate it.