OK guys...I've got an issue that I think I know what to do with, but would like a little help....

The cooling fan in my little car (93 Ford Escort 1.9l, 5-speed) is having an issue. It is my understanding that I should have two control switches for it. As of last summer, neither of them were working, so I installed a toggle switch in the console under the radio to allow manual operation of the cooling fan.

I put in a 20 amp switch, and ran a wire from the battery to the switch, a wire back to the fan, and of course a ground wire. 18 months of trouble free operation.

The switch melted.

OK, so I went and bought a new switch, took the interior apart again to replace said switch...and installed a 20 amp glass fuse under the hood...en route from the battery to the switch. Turned the fan on...it worked, but didn't sound good. turned the fan off. A few minutes later, when I tried again, no fan. Blew the fuse.

I'm thinking the fan is giving up the ghost as it shouldn't be pulling more than 20 amps.

Buy a new fuse, and junkyard the fan is my idea.

Any input?

 

How does turn when you manually push on it? If it doesn't push easily there's a good chance it's the fan... otherwise the fan could be shorting out.

 

First off your wiring it totally wrong. Switches are not really designed to switch on high current circuits, thats why it melted. Relays are designed to control power in high current curcuits. You have 2 options. Rewire it so that that switch only makes/ breaks the ground wire. That way there will be no(minimal) current through it. Or you can wire in a relay in place of the switch, but you still need a switch to control it. Either way, switches will not last when they control high current circuits. Ericsmith32 is right, make sure the fan turns freely. You can also rig up just your fuse and ground, and power fan directly and see if the fuse blows, if it does, it's the fan. If it doesn't, then there is a short in your wiring somewhere, but you should redo that anyway.