Having been doing quite a bit of driving lately, and planning on another long back-road blast later this morning, I popped the hood to check the oil level (fine), and then, just for fun thought I'd wiggle the connections on the temp sensor to clear any contact spooge and check for tightness. All seemed fine. And then... what's this?... I found what may just prove to be the answer of why the fan never seemed to go on. It was totally disconnected! The white male/female wiring connectors were completely apart. Just hanging there, clipped to the radiator support.
How long it has been that way I can't say. But years and years certainly.
Mind you, there are many such unused connectors in my car. Here, there and everywhere. Engine compartment. Trunk. Under the dash. And that for several reasons.
One, the car -- originally from Florida -- had once had an air conditioner. That was before I bought her back in `88. Too, being a `77, she originally must have once had lots of rude and crude anti-pollution gizmos -- Yes? -- again, gone before I bought her. (Interestingly she, if well warmed, passed even Massachusetts' strict 'stick this up your rear' test without them. She runs clean.)
And then there were other things. Things long gone, and never identified. Several such unused connectors, for instance, near the ignition switch.
But the cooling fan... well that should certainly be connected. It certainly once had been, for living and driving in Boston had once required it. All that silly stop and go stuff! (Do some of you still deal with stuff like that?)
Anyhow, it'll be interesting to see if the fan now occasional turns on. But today, being only in the 70s, and the roads I plan to drive totally open, I likely won't find out.
Yes, I could just let her idle for a while. That'd do it I imagine. But why? She's never suffered for want of the fan in now how many years?
Still, it is funny. Disconnected. Unnoticed. And for all those years.
I blush with shame.
-don
