raidator fan on 97 cavalier

The fan comes on when I turn a/c on but when a/c is not on the fan does not come on even when engine heats up.
Thanks aj

the engine has to get pretty hot before the fan kicks in. check the fuse and relay. to get the fan to kick on you need to rev the engine for a few minutes untill the gage gets about midway.

It does have to get pretty before the fan kicks in. The best way to check this is hotwire your fan for a second just to see if it works. If it does then your probably looking at an Engine coolant temperature sensor (ECT). Its located in the thermostat housing. You test this with an ohm meter. You unplug the sensor connector and probe the sensor tips. You should have high resistance when the engine is cold and low resistance when the engine is hot. I've seen several of these vehicles have this problem and the sensor was the problem.