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radiator fan not coming on unless ignition is off??

201 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  01 Grizzly
hey guys. atv in question is a 2003 kodiak 450. i recently rebuilt its engine and have been riding it a bit. when the engine gets hot the fan never comes on. however when you turn off the ignition key the fan will come on (only once it is hot). the fan comes on before the overheat light will but again only when the ignition is off. if the engine is kept running the fan will never come on despite being overheated. so i know the fan works, and the radiator temp switch was probably fine but i replaced it anyway and saw no change. fan circuit breaker is okay too. obviously the fan itself works. when you turn off the ignition the fan will run until the temp switch cools off. the temp switch on the cylinder head is just an inducator light as far as i know but it is good too. i bridged the pins on the temo switch plug and still the fan does not come on.

any advice would be appreciated. i am probably going to cut into the harness and wire a toggle switch directly into the radiator fan if i cannot find the issue.
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Is the fan relay a factory unit? The reason I ask is some of the after markets relays can be normally closed instead of the proper normally open .


Thus they give current flow when the switch power is shut off witch is the opposite of what you'd want to happen.
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There is no fan relay as far as I can tell
Is the fan relay a factory unit? The reason I ask is some of the after markets relays can be normally closed instead of the proper normally open .


Thus they give current flow when the switch power is shut off witch is the opposite of what you'd want to happen.
Looks like the circuit just goes from the battery to the ignition then a circuit breaker followed by the thermo switch and then the fan motor itself.
Someting was put back together wrong, if the key is off, then no power should flow to anything.
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Someting was put back together wrong, if the key is off, then no power should flow to anything.
The culprit was the ignition switch itself. I used an aftermarket switch because the previous owner wired in a tractor switch from tractor supply. It turned out the aftermarket switch sends power to the fan when it is in the off position but it does not when it is in the on position. I’ve ordered a factory ignition switch.
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