I appreciate everyone who has helped me with the cooling fan issue on my 2000 Cavalier. Now that I have gotten back into town and had a chance to get under the hood and mess with the car I have found the problem and picked up the appropriate replacement parts.
The cooling fan on the Cavalier must have gone bad. Inspection under the hood led to the discovery of a blown 30 amp fuse which I quickly jumped just to see if the fan would run again, since the fan stopped working during a period of heavy snow and I believed it might have become snowpacked.
Jumping the fuse did not allow the motor to turn so I quickly removed the jumper wire. I have checked and I am getting the appropriate voltage (which I should be) up to the fuse, and when I disconnect the fan connections and replace the fuse, I get the appropriate voltages down to the fan controls... Needless to say, looks like the fan motor is burnt up.
Looking around at different local auto parts stores I was able to find a replacement motor for $24.99 at O'Reilly auto parts. I picked that up last week... really a good deal since everywhere else wants $60-70 for the entire assembly, but since my fan is in good shape all I need is a replacement motor.
Now comes the hard part, I have not been able to figure out how to remove the fan assembly... It looks like it should slide out of the clips which hold it in, but I do not have the Haynes manual for this car and do not wish to break a retaining clip by simply pulling hard.
Does anyone know how to remove the cooling fan assembly?? Once I get it out I am sure that I will be able to remove the old motor and install the new one without any difficulties whatsoever... it's getting the assembly out which seems to be giving me the post problems.
Anyway, thank you all for your help, I know that the gurus here will be able to help me out just as they have in the past.
try running a wire directly from your positive battery terminal, spliced into the fans blue wire (right next to the fan) to see if the fan comes on, if it does, the fan is fine and your issue is probably the ect sensor.
99firese thank you very much. I did as you suggested and the fan will run when I splice straight into the blue wire and run it to the positive battery terminal.
Now for another dumb question... where is the ECT Sensor located and how do I go about replacing it when I find a new one.
i assume you have a 2200 engine? if so it should be on the left side of the engine next to to the alternator screwed into the coolant pipe (large black metal pipe that goes across the front of the engine)
This may be common knowledge.. but in the 2200 motor's, the fan never comes on untill your temp needle is in the red zone.. I know this sounds silly. but I thought I had a problem with my fan too cause it would never come on..But if you have A/C turn it on and the fan will come on right away ...If you don't Have A/C or a 2200 motor then I don't know what to tell you..So you might want to disregarde this post.
What's wronge with stock..?
