Electric Fan

[steveleb]

I have a 1993 Buick Lasabre 3.8. How do you check to see if the electric fan for the radiator is working? It seems that is dosen't come on, but I never get a hot reading from the idiot light even when I sprung a major leak in the raditor.

[BillK]

Steve,
Gm's fans dont come on until about 140 degrees. Depending on the type of driving you do, it might not come on very often. Sitting in traffic for a long period of time would be the most common time to hear it run. Also, not sure about your 93, but most of them automatically come on when you turn the AC on.
The correct way to test the system would be with a good scanner that has the ability to switch the individual parts on and off to test them.
Without a scanner, one test might be to take the thing for a good long high speed run, then stop and shut it off, but then turn the key back on to the run position without starting the engine. Usually if you do this the heat "soak" will get the temp up high enough to turn the fan on in a few minutes.

Hope this helps,