Radiater fan not working

Wow, there is a lot of issues on this. My radiator fan is not coming on when the ac is on, causing severe overheating. (95 Escort LX wagon 1.9 liter-65k miles)) What's weird, is it stays cool/normal till I turn on the ac. Sometimes, the fan does work when ac is on when the engine is cool and then it stops, after running a few miles, and overheats? I am so confused! How EXACTLY do you jumper test the fan??? Where can I find a fan also? There are none in Hawaii! It's hot and humid here....please help! My makeup is running! :) If the fan does work via jumper, what should I check next?
Mahalo nui loa! (Thank you very much!) lindy

First you should check the fuse in the engine compartment make sure it is good.If so take the fan out it is the easy way to jumper test the fan. Take two wires hook them to the fan male plugin it shows postive and negative to a car battery red to pos and black to neg if the fan runs it is good then you need to buy a new fan relay located in the engine compartment fuse box
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Mahalo! (Thank you) I already checked the fuse and it's ok. I will do as you say for the fan motor. I think the fan will be bad.......do you or anyone out there know where I can purchase one? Auto part stores here have searched and can't find. I am awaiting reply from BIG DADDY"S on the net. We do have a couple junk yards here.....I will call them also.
Thanks again and Happy 4th! lindy

FYI: There are so many issues on the fan and cars overheating I figured I would post my results so far. I posted yesterday and today, but I think I should keep it all together in one place....

1st: I jumpered the fan with direct voltage, after I removed it from radiator. Very simple, but you should remove airfilter housing first for easier access to bottom right bolt. Only three bolts hold it on. When you take it off you will see the positive and negative symbols on the motor. The fan worked good on this test.

2nd: Relay appeared to be ok. (In fuse-relay panel in engine compartment next to air filter housing.) No burnt smells. Looked new. Fuse ok. according to Napa.

3rd: Napa employee told me to jumper the coolant temp. sensor unit for test.

Engine coolant temp sensor: Located near coil pack, along the heater hose inlet which is attached to the thermostat housing on the right side of engine. There is a metal unit there between two hoses. The sensor is attached on this metal "bridge". There is a small sending unit next to it that goes to the dash indicator.
(If you have the CHILTON manual, see page 3-27 for pic.)

I was told by Napa employee to unplug the unit and jumper the connection with a wire. If the fan came on the sensor was faulty. The fan did come on. Tried to remove sensor via bolt and was unable to budge it. Oiled it and got strong neighbor and he failed also. Needed deep end socket. Took it to local Goodyear garage and asked them to try and remove it. I informed the mechanic that it should probably be removed by taking the hoses off on each end. That meant removing the ignition coil pack first as you canNOT get to the release clamps on the hose. He said he wanted to try first and he put too much torche on it and broke the seal of the metal housing clip attached via a weld. (Don't ask a Samoan for help when you don't want too much strength!) :)

The problem with this location is there is nothing to really get a good grip on for leverage, and the fact that it is held in place by hoses on each end. It bent and then broke weld seal, which caused fluid leak. Now the garage has the car.

I will put further posts here as this problem progresses to the end.

Sounds like your problem went from bad to worst what i did after I checked everything was found a wire that had 12volts when enginie was on and 0 when off and made a permanet jumper so my fan starts when i cranck my car.

FYI: There are so many issues on the fan and cars overheating I figured I would post my results so far. I posted yesterday and today, but I think I should keep it all together in one place....

1st: I jumpered the fan with direct voltage, after I removed it from radiator. Very simple, but you should remove airfilter housing first for easier access to bottom right bolt. Only three bolts hold it on. When you take it off you will see the positive and negative symbols on the motor. The fan worked good on this test.

2nd: Relay appeared to be ok. (In fuse-relay panel in engine compartment next to air filter housing.) No burnt smells. Looked new. Fuse ok. according to Napa.

3rd: Napa employee told me to jumper the coolant temp. sensor unit for test.

Engine coolant temp sensor: Located near coil pack, along the heater hose inlet which is attached to the thermostat housing on the right side of engine. There is a metal unit there between two hoses. The sensor is attached on this metal "bridge". There is a small sending unit next to it that goes to the dash indicator.
(If you have the CHILTON manual, see page 3-27 for pic.)

I was told by Napa employee to unplug the unit and jumper the connection with a wire. If the fan came on the sensor was faulty. The fan did come on. Tried to remove sensor via bolt and was unable to budge it. Oiled it and got strong neighbor and he failed also. Needed deep end socket. Took it to local Goodyear garage and asked them to try and remove it. I informed the mechanic that it should probably be removed by taking the hoses off on each end. That meant removing the ignition coil pack first as you canNOT get to the release clamps on the hose. He said he wanted to try first and he put too much torche on it and broke the seal of the metal housing clip attached via a weld. (Don't ask a Samoan for help when you don't want too much strength!) :)

The problem with this location is there is nothing to really get a good grip on for leverage, and the fact that it is held in place by hoses on each end. It bent and then broke weld seal, which caused fluid leak. Now the garage has the car.

I will put further posts here as this problem progresses to the end.

Wow, took 10 days to get part from Ford! (The stupid garage had it shipped parcel post which meant it was shipped on a boat!) The garage split the cost of the repair with me and it still cost $110 from my pocket!!!! The coolant temp sensor was $56 and only available from Ford. The assembly was $120, also from Ford! Labor $90! :( (Have new hoses also) Ok, got the car home and put the radiator fan back on. Fan worked, ac worked. (Yesterday in am-not too hot yet) Thought all was fine. Went surfing today and on the way home at 3pm, very short distance, but it was very hot, 90, and humid! I was watching the temp sensor constantly, all was ok, then suddenly, the ac went warm. Looked at temp gauge and the car was getting hot. Turned off ac and got to house and I jumped out and checked the radiator fan. It was on! In a couple minutes it went off. I turned the ac back on and the fan did come on. So, the fan appears to be working ok but the car is hot! AC warm also. During this whole ordeal, I forgot about a noise that the car was making back when this all started. The road is a bit rough where I go surf so I thought something had come loose... I didn't think it was related till I was reading the Chilton over the last few days....the sound is like a loud rattle, metal against metal, coming from the the left side of engine and really loud closer to the ground than the top. You only hear it when idling in gear. If I shift to neutral or park it stops or if I rev it a little while in neutral. This noise is not constant but gets louder when engine is warmed up, ?????, and also when the ac is turned on. ????? What now guys? Could this be the water pump? I'm not sure now the sensor needed replacing, but the fan is working again, but then sometimes it worked also if you read back over prior posts. Help me please, if ya can! Mahalo Nui Loa in advance.

I'd say the sensor did need replacing. That's why your fan works now. The water pump is located in the area where the noise is coming from. Normally they will start leaking when they go bad. I think you have a clogged radiator. Went through the same thing on my '93 wagon. In my particular case, the radiator would be hot at the top but if you felt it near the bottom it was cool. This is because sediment had settled at the bottom and clogged the cooling tubes. Thry that out and see if there is a different temp at the top than the bottom. You might buy some time by removing the thrmostat. It'll run a little cooler. I bought my new radiator on-line at http://www.radiator.com It was delivered right to my door in 3 days. I just checked and they said a radiator for Escort is $109. It's a lot more work but if you are keeping this car for a long time then replace the hoses while your at it. All of them. Heater hoses too. And put in a new thermostat. An d use DISTILLED WATER This will stop the radiator from clogging up again. If I was in Hawaii I think I'd just run pure antifreeze though. Pure antifreeze has a boiling point of over 300 degrees F. Good luck and let us know. First though, check the bottom of the radiator and see if it is cooler than the top. Now remember, when you are looking through your grill, what you see is NOT the radiator. It's the condensor for the A/C. The radiator sits behind the condensor.

Will a radiator flush clean out any debri? Do I have to buy a new radiator if it is clogged? (New radiator was installed in this vehicle in 2003.) When the car overheats, the coolant reservoir is boiling loudly. Mechanic tells me he thinks that is the thermostat. ????

Will a radiator flush clean out any debri? Do I have to buy a new radiator if it is clogged? (New radiator was installed in this vehicle in 2003.) When the car overheats, the coolant reservoir is boiling loudly. Mechanic tells me he thinks that is the thermostat. ????

It's easy enough to check. If the thermostat is stuck shut then the upper radiator hose won't get too hot. Normally it should be so hot you can't touch it. If the radiator is only two years old then it should be good still unless you have a lot of minerals in your water. If it were me, I'd take the thermostat out and see what happens. Just run without it. Not to scare you but a broken head gasket also has these symptoms.