yeah, i just put some dye in the a/c and 1 can of freon to check for leaks before did a total charge on it. when the engine temp got to 225 degree the fans started working. i was thinking that might be the problem from the start but wanted to checked everything out first, seeing how its december and i would need the a/c until spring i was going to wait but i grabbed a few cans from work and came home todays and charged the a/c system and the fans started working. i thought i read in the manual they would come on if the engine temp was over 140 degrees and engine off, they still wont come on when the engine is off, unless it was a typo and its suppose to be 240 degrees which sounds more realistic to me. either way they are working now and i appreciate all the help, i like to pick everyones mind before i tackle something like that because more than likely someone with the same setup has been there before me and could point me in a faster troubleshooting process. thanks again.

 

So your radiator cooling fans wont work when the temp rises if the a/c is undercharged. That makes no sense.

 

I agree.

But remember, this is from the company that brought us the Vega. Now THAT was an engineering masterpiece.

 

i am with you its makes no sense at all but it is what it is. i know they are suppose to come on when the a\c pressure swith closes and when defroster is on but actually that is the a\c coming on causing them to come on there. i will say this i don't know whether it was Coincidence but beforei charged the a/c i yanked the pcm and tore into to it, wanted to check for burnt circuit. i mean i tore it all the way down, sprayed the connector and pcm terminals with contact cleaner and reassembled pcm. i don't don't know which was the actual cause but its fixed now. thats why i don't like to do too much at once, so i know what the actual problem was.

 

I had learned to expect that kind of nonsense from dodge. I was working on a k car and found the fan would only work while you pushed on the gas. Let off and the fan would stop. I problem might have been unnoticed if it worked the other way around.

 

HEY!
That water pump/timing belt tensioner was genius. It combined two parts into one thus saving weight. Like the aluminum block.

 

Personally I wish they would have installed a fail safe for the fan system. But I guess on paper it's not needed.

Don't know how closely you've worked with design engineers, but some of them are so 'into the numbers' they can't see the what the average Joe can smell. Then again I really think some of them have a secondary degree in fianance .... "How can we design in a set amount of failure and desired profit?" Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing just auto engineers, just all of them without some common sense.

Personally, the best engineering goof I think I ever had to work around was the Renault R16. Someone forgot that during a normal service you might want to remove the valve cover to do such little chores as valve clearance adjustment .... They issued a TSB with the offical hammer partnumber and a diagram showing where to apply this device to the firewall to get sufficent clearance to remove the cover. Imagine what the customer must have thought when they saw the tech beating the hell out of their new car at the 1st service. And to top it off, wasn't any labor allowed to do this.

 

i know exactly what you mean about the valve cover issues, i work for a Detroit Diesel Distributor as a lead transmission tech. and also work on the engine side when tranny work slows down. i don't know if your familiar with big rigs but on some model GM White Volvos you have to unbolt the front cab mounts and jack the cab up with a porta power to remove the valve cover, its let say, SH*T.
i mean we are talking about a 18 wheeler or tractor if you will, the hood rolls forward and bam there is the engine, better yet you have the T2000 that you have to remove the coolant resevoir,rain tray, fenders and and a whole bunch of other crap just to see the engine, and we are talking about a 60 series engine here the freakin thing is bigger than my camaro. however, that is the truck OEM and not detroits doing, they have some sense about them as far as the electronic goes. the fans on these big rigs are controlled by a air clutch and if the circuit fails its default is on all the time which does rob horse power and torque but it does stay on instead of not coming on at all. the computer has to contol it off, so if something goes wrong with the fan circuit you pretty much know it because it wont go off.

 

Agreed, Minerman. I work for a local Diesel shop and have noticed exactly what you've mentioned. The T2000, as nice as it is, is a heart attack to work on, as is the majority of any Volvo manufactured truck. A fellow tech just finished a clutch job today on a Volvo dump truck. He's an older guy and the thing almost gave him a coronary! Hydraulic clutch lines, retarded dog-box placement, and terrible ground clearance made for a week long job. Detroit sure knows how to build an engine, though. Cummins and Cat are really getting low-grade, IMO.

 

usarmyrangrs, just wait until '07 i believe the new '07 detroit 60 if you want to call it that is going to be a royal pain the ****. common rail system,egr can't get to nothin, junk. well, since dymler chrysler bought detroit, they thought they should breed the MBE and the 60 series and it looks like the offspring is going to be a BLUE TURD. i have seen pictures of it and it looks nothing like a 60 series.they really made things too complicated when they added egr to the 60 series, not the egr system itself but the electronics part of it. i kinda reminds me of the 1k/2k series allison when they first came out with it, 1 problem= 15 codes. i just treat it the same way though, write the codes down if not active and clear them, then drive it and see which one pops up first. sorry, i know this isnt a diesel forum but i thought you may want to know whats coming down the pike.