Electrical: Rigged up Radiator Fan!

[simon]

I’ve posted some pictures of my car in this post:
http://www.fiatspider.com:16080/f08/vie ... 122#p30122

If you look closely you can see a pair of red wires hanging under the dash just under the steering wheel. This is a switch that turns on/off the radiator fan. The former owner added this after he noticed the car started to over-heat. He told me he replaced what he referred to as “the switch.” I’m not sure what he meant when he told me that he replaced the switch but he said the fan still wouldn’t come on when the engine got hot…so he installed this manual switch to turn it on. I don’t care for the setup…more importantly the switch gets very hot when it’s turned on.

I would like to put it back the way it’s supposed to be. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas what I should check (I imagine that there are several things to check – so what order I should go in might be helpful too). I have several wiring diagrams for the car as well as the Chilton’s guide. I also have a multi-meter (though I will have to find an online tutorial in order to learn how to use it).

The horn has been disconnected inside the steering wheel also. The former owner tried to explain why he did this, but the third time through the story (it still wasn’t making sense) I decided I wasn’t going to understand why and would just have to work it out later. It had something to do with a short that caused the horn to go off when you turned off the car. I noticed that the fuse that controls the Radiator Thermostat also controls the Horn. It seems like there might be some relationship there.

Rather than creating a whole other post I thought I would also mention that currently the blinkers don’t work (no clicking noise or anything when the indicator switch is pushed either up or down). I’m not sure if this could be related to the fact that the reverse lights also don’t turn on when I put the car in reverse. To be honest I don’t really know where to start working on these problems.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
* I thought I should include that I have a 1978 spider 1800

[TulsaSpider]

I have a 78 as well and have been dealing with some of the same issues. The fan switch is rigged in mine as well and I have the same problem with the switch getting hot. The switch you need to replace is located in the LH side of the radiator. You'll have to drain the radiator a bit to replace it. You'll have to fix the wiring as well. In my case I haven't got around to changing it out yet. I think the switch works ok for now. I drove all summer like that. I have been advised to set up a relay for the switch to deal with the wire overheating problems, which in my and your case I'm thinking this may make the fan switch fail. For starters Disconnect your battery take out all your fuses, thoroughly clean and recrimp the fuse contacts, make sure the correct amp fuses are installed. This could help with the overheating wire, which is caused by a short or too much resistance in the wire.

No clue about the horn.

The power for the blinkers runs through the hazard switch. So check those connections, you could have a bad swich as well.

Getting your feet wet with electrical problems! There will likely be many more to come! On that note I advise you to replace the wires that feed power to your distributor when you get a chance, they like to crack and wear internally. They gave me fits till I figured it out!
Good luck

[Tappy]

well ,i would start cleaning the grounds , the bottle cap things under the hood ,and the connectors as first

[simon]

The power for the blinkers runs through the hazard switch. So check those connections, you could have a bad swich as well.

This was right on. I opened the lower dashboard (which was put in hastily by the former owner) and found that the Hazard switch was disconnected. Re-connecting it was easy enough (now the turn signals work again)...but i found another problem - one that may have been the cause of all the electrical issues in the first place OR could just be a symptom. The "courtesy light" (after looking at the wiring diagram for the car i'm pretty sure that's what it's called) was unconnected also...and completely melted on one side (see image below).



The current condition of this part is such that i don't think reconnecting it is a good idea. Does anyone know if this is something i can replace? and where i might find it?

[rlux4]

There may not be a problem with the courtesy light. It generates a lot of heat and could just have been left on for too long.
It's a pretty basic circuit, not much could go wrong with it, except poor contacts, which would cause more heat.
Ron

[So Cal Mark]

my bet is was connected improperly. A light left on should have melted the lens, not the contact

[simon]

So...does anyone know of a source for this part? I looked at International's website and wasn't able to find it there.

[TulsaSpider]

Not sure, you can prolly find a used one. It puts out hardly any light by the way.

[rlux4]

They come up on Ebay pretty regularly. I search "Fiat Spider" to narrow it down from everything else that comes up with just a "Fiat" search.
Ron

[htchevyii]

$27.95 @ Vicks, I just bought one
http://www.vickauto.com/cgi-bin/store/19-4372.html

[simon]

$27.95 @ Vicks, I just bought one
http://www.vickauto.com/cgi-bin/store/19-4372.html

That's perfect. Thanks very much for the info!