GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

2006 2WD Automatic. My radiator fan will not turn on. I first noticed it when when my AC would not cool at low speeds. Luckily the engine doesn't overheat even down here in FL, but I'm usually not stopped for more than 5 minutes at a time at a traffic light.

I've checked the 40A fuse and it is good. I don't know where the cooling fan relay is to check and I have not yet tried to jump the fan motor to test it (I assume I can jump a lead wire from positive battery to get it to engage while negative side of motor is grounded?).

I'm guessing it could also be the coolant temperature sender\switch, which I also don't know where it's located.

Spinning the fan manually, I don't feel any bearing grinding, but it does seem rather loose.

Help on the location of these components would be a great help (coolan temperature\switch and cooling fan relay).

Thanks.

Should I repost in another section?

If you're stopped for a while with the engine idling and you pop the hood, can you watch the fan to see if it turns on or if it makes noise?

star_deceiver wrote:If you're stopped for a while with the engine idling and you pop the hood, can you watch the fan to see if it turns on or if it makes noise?

The fan use to come on intermittently when the problem started happening but now it doesn't come on at all.

Problem fixed for now:

Bad fan motor. Me being cheap, I decided to get 5-10K more miles out of it, hopefully more:

Brush dust galore:





Brushes:



Commutator worn down pretty bad:



Brushes also worn down pretty bad:



1 minute in the drill press with some sandpaper. I didn't try to true it all the way as there would have been too much material removed and the brushes are nearing their mechanical wear limit:



I also used a pen oiler on the front ball bearing and slabbed some marine grease in the rear brass bushing. Let me tell you: the fan spins so much easier now. Probably the reason why it wore out in the first place is the heavy amperage caused by the poorly-lubricated bearings causing heavy arcing. My lights are now brighter as well since the fan isn't pulling as much load.

The motor is easy to take apart, simply pry up the tabs and then crimp them back down when you put it back together. Those of you with older cars that still have your motor running good and want to extend the life of it or even reduce load on your electrical system, I recommend taking it apart and cleaning it up. I have 65K miles on my Vibe btw.

I just recently had the same problem. I went to the Toyota dealership to get my new one. They had it in stock. None of the autoparts stores or the GM dealership did. I just saw your post today, or I would have tried to help sooner.

KNINE wrote:I just recently had the same problem. I went to the Toyota dealership to get my new one. They had it in stock. None of the autoparts stores or the GM dealership did. I just saw your post today, or I would have tried to help sooner.

Thanks anyhooo..........how much did the new motor cost?

I find it funny that a complete new assembly can be had cheaper than just the motor itself.

I was able to buy only the motor, but yes, I thought I was going to have to buy the entire essembly, which made no sense to me at all. The only reason I bought the motor without the assembly is that the motor was in stock locally I couldn't afford to wait for the assembly to be shipped. I needed my car to get to work. My truck just happened to be out of commission at the same time.