Comments on: 1992 Honda Accord – Fan won’t turn off

By: Hugh

Hugh — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:22:52 +0000

On my 95 honda odyssey it seemed the fan was stuck on. I tried your idea with the relays. The one relay which seemed identical to the cooling fan relay was the power window relay. By the way the windows worked fine. After switching the fan stopped. And the windows still work fine. So now I’m happy the fan stopped but still unsure of what was happening.
So I just put the relays back in their original positions and it seems as if the problem is gone. Will drive around to see if issue returns and get back to you.
Thanks for your help.

By: Mark Vejvoda

Mark Vejvoda — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 22:59:16 +0000

Simply meant that you lean over the head gasket facing toward the green plug and slide the screw driver under the plastic clip holding the green plug in place. If you are not careful you may break the clip on that green plug as the plastic can be very brittle.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 21:14:40 +0000

Mark Vejvoda, to unclip the green plug, what did you mean by “come in from the end connected to the engine”? You can’t just pull it straight out with your hand? or do you need the screwdriver to pry it out? Can you please give more details. Thanks.

By: Mark Vejvoda

Mark Vejvoda — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:17:37 +0000

First let me say I am no expert, I am an amateur sharing what I have learned!

You said the fan would go off after 15 minutes. If it does come on after that then you likely still have a problem. If you already changed the switch that I pointed out in this blog, then you may want to consider the other sensor used in the cooling system. This other sensor (is what I originally bought and had to return as it was not the sensor I needed to replace) is the cooling temperature sensor. If i remember correctly this one has a nob (like on a thermometer you put in your mouth) which the thermo switch does not have (at least mine didn’t).

By: Yvette

Yvette — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:31:16 +0000

so if the relay is not the answer and the thermo switch is not the answer what is? Yesterday the fan was off and CAME ON spontaneously. I really don’t want to have my daughter get off work at 3 in the morning to find her battery dead. help please

By: Mark Vejvoda

Mark Vejvoda — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:28:27 +0000

Yes it is well known that the fans DO go on after you pull out the key from the ignition and walk away. But they should not be longer than 15-20 minutes max, mine would go until the battery was dead (hours)

By: Yvette

Yvette — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 23:54:35 +0000

I changed the thermo switch–didn’t help. Checked the relay (although I could not find a power steering relay but the one next to it was the same-) and that didn’t do anything. But tonight as we stood next to the car the fan shut off after about 15 minutes so maybe it just needed to stay on to cool the engine?

By: Mark Vejvoda

Mark Vejvoda — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:27:17 +0000

So you’re saying steam (or is it smoke) is coming out of your rad cap? You mean it comes out just on its own, or you take the cap off and smoke comes out?

If steam/smoke comes out of your rad cap, it may be that you simply need to replace the cap (can get a new one almost anywhere including Walmart). That is the easiest thing to replace, but make sure you top up the fluid.

Check under the hood for leaks (and always carry around with you silver duck tape in case your rad hose blows you can use that tape temporarily to tape up the hole till you get to a service station, if you have enough fluid left in the rad). Check under the car for dripping of rad fluid while leaving it parked for a while.

The fan coming on IS normal. What ISN’T normal is that it stays on for longer than 15- 20 mins MAX, and will eventually drain your battery charge.

The worst case possibility is you have a blown head gasket meaning rad fluid is leaking into the engine. To check, pull the oil dipstick out and see if the oil looks greyish and bubbly (as if rad fluid is mixing into the oil). That is expensive to get fixed.

By: Rydah

Rydah — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:17:35 +0000

hi, im having that problem as well
my fan goes on wen i shut off my car and i thought it was normal
but now i got smoke coming through my padiator cap
but the tempurture isnt rising in my car
but it drainz the fluid after a long distance of driving
do you know whatz wrong ?
thnakz

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:22:41 +0000

Thanks for the help! The relay fix was a nice alleviation for the evening since I can’t get out to a parts store at this hour. The fan was keeping the whole neighborhood up! And it’s 3 degrees here in Nebraska… I’m not terribly concerned with the engine overheating just yet.

By: Sohbet

Sohbet — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:28:28 +0000

I was getting ready to hardwire it to my ignition to save myself money when I found your blog. I made a trip to my auto store and $20 later problem was solved. Saved me alot of time and a headache

By: Nikki

Nikki — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:07:44 +0000

Thanks a million! You’re info was what I was looking for. I had a problem with my fan not shutting off. I bought a new relay and that was not the problem. I was getting ready to hardwire it to my ignition to save myself money when I found your blog. I made a trip to my auto store and $20 later problem was solved. Saved me alot of time and a headache