Neon cooling fans

Are the Fuses in the PDC good? have you checked for battery voltage and a good ground when the fan is supposed to be on?

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

What does "PDC" stand for? I assume you're talking about the box behind the battery, because that's where the fuses and relays are. I checked the fuses, and they were good. I hadn't gotten around to the voltage yet. Looks like a nice sun-shiny morning. I'll get out there with a volt meter next.

Could be a dead fusible link (or other circuit-protection device) in the fan's power circuit, upstream of the fan relay. Put your voltmeter or test light across ground and the fan relay socket slot that mates with the relay's terminal 30. If you find no voltage, you've got an open in the circuit. These fusible links tend to blow only for a reason, i.e., the fan motor starts drawing too much current because its bearings are shot.

And once that circuit protection is open, BOTH fans will fail to run.

DS

Yes thats what I am refering to, PDC Power Distribution Center

The only recall that was out on a cooling problem for that year vehicle was replacing the radiator assembly. (recall#694) And that was only if the vehicle was built at the Toluca Plant and it had to be built between April

!997 and 98 Had the radiator fan relay recall #7691 and 7692

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Great info! Thanks.

Can you spin the bad fan by hand?

I can't really assume that it is a bad fan yet, but yes, both of them spin freely. I know that's a good question, because when the fan went bad in my 93 voyager, it locked up.

Here's the latest: 12 volts at the fan relay terminal 30. Relay clicks to turn the fan(s) on. Same relay works OK when switched over to the horn circuit. (I don't have enough hands to check it with a jumper wire and a volt meter)

Seems like a slam dunk that it's the fan or fans causing the problem...except that one individual emailed me about another relay that controls the ground circuit on this car. He mentioned that it tends to be a common source of problems, it is a metal box located on the frame near the radiator, and that it is the same relay used on the Caravan of the same year.

One other weird thing about this car is that the temperature gauge reads cold when the engine is cold, and then it comes up to medium when the engine warms up. But it never goes above medium even when the engine is getting way too hot. The antifreeze is filled to capacity. Could it be that the temperature sensor on the engine is defective and not telling the gauge to come up all the way, and not telling the grounding relay to turn the fans on?

I just discovered that the relay marked "Rad Fan" in the box behind the battery turns on whenever the engine is on, hot or not. That leaves the temperature sensor, the mysterious ground relay that I think I caught a glimpse of next to the radiator, or the fans themselves. Tomorrow I'll test the fans directly and see if they spin.