black magic e-fan ques

[310stanger]

got a question pertaining to this fan coming on. I installed this maybe 2 yrs ago, set it when it was supposed to come on. Havent driven the car for a pretty long time except for the past couple of days. Opened up the radiator cap today to check that my coolant level was still good, it had to get topped off. I topped it off and took it for a ride and noticed the temp gauge start to go to the very top of the normal range. The fan was set to kick on more towards the middle of the gauge. I open the hood and notice that the reservoir for the coolant is elevated from where it was before so it tells me the coolant definitely got pretty hot. Has any ever had their black magic fan just stop coming on? Its really cold out today so I cant stand working on the car outside, but all i could think of was the power wire for the fan that goes to the negative battery terminal is maybe corroded a lil? Lastly, think its airpockets from the coolant getting low that suddenly made the car get that hot? It didnt overheat but it was headed that way.


Ps. I know a lot of you hate this fan, but up until this, I never did have a problem with it. With a ron davis radiator it always seemed to do the job good enough.

 

[FastDriver]

I burned up two of those fans and will never install another. I was tired of my engine bay catching fire...

Anyway, check all of your electrical connections and ensure they are all hooked to the correct terminals on the fan relay (On top of the fan). Then make sure they are not corroded. Ensure that the temp gauge is inserted into the radiator. It's best if it goes in between a couple of spread fins in the radiator instead of pressed against the outside of the radiator. Then once the radiator is warmed up, play with the toggle switch on the top and check to see if the fan is working. If you've done all this and it still doesn't work, yank it and get a spal or a fan out of a newer ford.

Chris

 

[310stanger]

I burned up two of those fans and will never install another. I was tired of my engine bay catching fire...

Anyway, check all of your electrical connections and ensure they are all hooked to the correct terminals on the fan relay (On top of the fan). Then make sure they are not corroded. Ensure that the temp gauge is inserted into the radiator. It's best if it goes in between a couple of spread fins in the radiator instead of pressed against the outside of the radiator. Then once the radiator is warmed up, play with the toggle switch on the top and check to see if the fan is working. If you've done all this and it still doesn't work, yank it and get a spal or a fan out of a newer ford.

Chris

thanks man. god that would piss me off if the fan motor is burnt out. The unit is not that old in age, but in use its fairly new. Im hoping theres a rust/connection problem or something.

 

[FastDriver]

Oh, I forgot... I never installed the manual on/off toggle switch in my car. If you have one, try disconnecting it. Maybe it's shorted?

 

[HISSIN50]

Using fused jumper leads, bench-test the fan. This will tell you if the fan itself is the issue, or if it's the controller or a wiring issue.

 

[LiquidGT]

I had one of those fans, the connections would come loose even when I tried to solder them on; and it melted two fuses at two separate times I'm glad I saw it both times before it caught on fire. One time I busted the capilary tube and that made the fan not work, I think I bought the tube/controller replacement at Autozone.

 

[89hatchlx]

I'm sure you probably didn't but its worth a shot. Did you change your thermostat? Could it be in backwards? I had a buddy do that one time and it turned into a much bigger problem down the road. If all is well with that then the temp rising that fast is just a small air bubble trying to work itself out. . The Blackmagic fan, I have been running on in my car for over a year now. It was in the car when i got it, its seen better days but have never really had any problems with it. I do recall that it did burn up the connector on the power wire one time but that was my fault for using it again cause it was a rather lose fit. My dial is off a ways and i usually let the car warm up and adjust the fan knob from there see where it comes on then Adjust it a little to come on a little farther. Good luck anyways hope you get it worked out. What T stat are your running 190, 195, 180?