T&C Fan - Replaced Relay - worked for a week - overheating again :-(

[happyautumn123]

My hubby and I are basically becoming Chrysler mechanics. Van has 230,000 miles on and yeh we plan to drive til it croaks - just don't technically want that to be soon.

It overheats. We have had relay (under hood, mounted to frame) replaced by a mechanic before - they only mounted it with 1 (too large) bolt . Then had to have it replaced by them again.

Worked for a little while, sometimes it would stop working - he could get under van and giggle the connection and would start working, but it finally quit all together. Well we tackled it and also bolted it good with 2 (still too big since they made holes in frame bigger) bolts instead of just 1. We also got a new set of wires and plug from a junk yard while we were at it.

Well it worked - for a week - we were proud of ourselves....

Sat in traffic - worked perfect. (thank goodness)

Well tonight - while idling....it overheats. He tried to giggle the connection - no luck.....

Just don't know what else to try - like I said - it worked perfect for a week...

HELP

[daveyhouse]

The relay itself may have overheated and self destructed, they get very hot. That is the purpose of mounting to the frame, to dissipate the heat. When a new one is installed it should have thermo compound applied between the relay and frame, this allows for proper heat dissipation. Yes you are right if the bolts are too big and does not have a tight fit it will overheat. It must be snug against the metal to avoid air pockets. You can get this compound from just about any electronics store radio shack, computer store, etc. It is mainly used for cpu's in computers. I went through a couple of used and new ones before learning this. It got expensive.

The electrical connections should should be cleaned and have dielectric grease apply to to prevent corrosion. You can find this at any auto parts store. They sell it for spark plug wire sets, light bulb connections etc.

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound is one of the best you can buy, look for one that has silver in it, it works better than ceramic grease. Stay away from the two part mixture grease compounds.

Hope this helps.

[RIP]

You may have a fan motor drawing too much current. Try spinning the fan blades by hand. Look for any binding. If there change either the fan motor or the fan assembly.