Wires for fan and plug. Which is which?

[jimmycakes401]

I have two wires on my 1981 by the resevoir in the front drivers side. One is supposed to go to the fan and the other to the radiator plug. Correct me if I'm wrong. One is shorter than the other. I assume the long one goes to the plug and the short one goes to the fan? If anyone could clarify that for me, I'd appreciate it. I have to replace one of the ends because I had to replace the end of the plug. It was snapped. Keep in mind, I am putting this car back together. I did not take it apart.

[rlux4]

There are several wires in that area. Both the temp. sensor and the fan have two wires coming off of them and connect with a dual terminal fitting, male and female bullet type connectors. Is the wire you're talking about separated from the dual terminal connector?
One of the sides of the dual connector for both the sensor and the fan motor is a loop that completes a ground circuit from the grounding pod by the resevoir bottle through the sensor and up to the motor. Both of the wires on the sensor are for the ground circuit. On the fan, one of the wires is 12V and the other is the ground coming through the sensor. If the wire you're talking about is the ground wire it won't matter which goes to which, it would still compete the ground loop which is closed when the temp sensor "makes". If it's power it's got to be going to the fan.

[4uall]

One black, one green wire leading to radiator fan by itzebtze, on Flickr


Two black wires leading to radiator temperature sensor by itzebtze, on Flickr

maybe this will help?

[jimmycakes401]

Here. I took a shot of the two wires. One goes to the temp sense plug and the other to the fan. That's the loop you mean?

[jimmycakes401]

Ha! I must have been uploading mine at the same time you were.

[jimmycakes401]

Thanks! I'll snip the tip off the busted one, replace it and when I'm done blasting my fan shroud I"ll put it all back together. I'm very excited.

[rlux4]

I'm guessing that the puzzle is solved for you. The pictures by Jay are very good. They do a good job of showing the two black wires for the temp sensor, which are ground. An extra note; on the grounding pod on the inner fender by the washer bottle you'll see the ground connection for those wires, it's the largest black wire on the pod. Wouldn't hurt to check it for corrosion and tightness.
Ron