This tutorial will help you to test the cooling fan motors and cooling fan motor relays on your Ford Escape or Mazda Tribute in a comprehensive step-by-step way.
You won't need any expensive or exotic tools to do it, since all you'll only need to use is a multimeter and a jumper wire.
And if you're a serious DIY'er, I've made some tool recommendations that you'll want to have in your tool box for such an occasion (as testing any other cooling fan motor).
Contents of this tutorial:
You can find this tutorial in Spanish here: Probando Los Ventiladores Del Radiador (3.0L V6 Ford Escape - Mazda Tribute) (at: autotecnico-online.com).
APPLIES TO: This tutorial applies to the following vehicles:
- 3.0L Ford Escape: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
- 3.0L Mazda Tribute: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
Important Tips And Suggestions
TIP 1: This article focuses on testing the 2-wire cooling fan motors and the cooling fan motor relays of the 3.0L equipped Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute.
The fan motors on the 2.0L Escape and Tribute are 3-wire type fan motors and testing them requires a slightly different but significant approach not covered by this article (yet).
The only test in the article that applies to the 2.0L equipped Escape is TEST 4: Testing The Fan Relay.
What Tools Do I Need To Test The Fan Motor And Fan Relay?
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, you don't need anything fancy. This is the basic list of tools you'll need to diagnose and troubleshoot the cooling fan motors and cooling fan relays:
- Multimeter
- A digital or analog multimeter will work.
- If you need to buy one or are looking to upgrade, check out my recommendations here: Buying A Digital Multimeter For Automotive Diagnostic Testing.
- Jumper Wires
- You'll need two of them with alligator clips on both ends (you can make these yourself).
- You'll need to more with male spade terminals on both ends (you can also make these yourself).
- Wire Piercing Probes
- To see what this tool looks like: Wire Piercing Probe.
A scan tool comes in handy, but it's not a must-have tool to take advantage of this article.
Ford Escape Electric Fan System Basics
The core function of the cooling fan motor is to maintain the engine within a certain temperature range and to prevent overheating.
If the temperature exceeds 225° F, the engine starts to overheat and this can result in serious engine damage (like a blown head gasket, cracked cylinder heads and engine block).
It's within a temperature range of 195° F and 225° F that the engine will work at its most optimal state and keep pollution down, get the best gas mileage and all this good stuff.
The electric cooling fan system uses the following core components:
- Two electric cooling fan motor assemblies
- Fan motor 1 (located on the driver side of the radiator).
- Fan motor 2 (located on the passenger side of the radiator).
- Four cooling fan relays. These are:
- The Low Speed Fan Control Relay.
- Identified by the number 3.
- The High Speed Fan Control Relay 1.
- Identified by the number 1.
- The High Speed Fan Control Relay 2.
- Identified by the number 2.
- The Medium Speed Fan Control Relay.
- Identified by the number 4.
- The 3.0L equipped Ford Escape (Mazda Tribute) is the only one that uses the Medium Speed Relay.
- The Low Speed Fan Control Relay.
Ford's cooling fan motor control system may seem like a bit of overkill with its 4 fan relays, but it really isn't.
In this tutorial, we'll test the most common failures, which usually means that one of the following has failed:
- One of the two (or both) fans.
- One of the several cooling fan motor relays.
- One of the several cooling fan motor fuses.
With the help of this article, you'll be able to easily test either (or both) of the cooling fan motors, the fan relays and of course the fuses.
Let's turn the page and get testing.
TEST 1: Testing The Fuses
The very first thing you need to do, is to make sure that the fan fuses are not blown.
There are a total of 3 cooling fan fuses. Two are located in the engine compartment fuse/relay box and these fuses will be 40 Amp fuses.
The third one is 3 Amp blade type fuse and this fuse is located in the fuse box inside the vehicle (and below the left end of the dashboard). This fuse is labeled with the number 9 on the fuse box.
Using the photos in the image viewer, you can locate the 2 fuses located in the engine compartment fuse/relay box.
This is what you'll need to do:
- 1
Check the fuse labeled with the number 1 located in the underhood fuse/relay box.
Fuse #1 feeds the Low Speed Fan Relay with 12 Volts. - 2
Check the fuse labeled with the number 2 located in the underhood fuse/relay box.
Fuse #2 feeds the High Speed Fan Relay 1 with Power. - 3
Check the fuse labeled with the number 9 in the under dash fuse box.
- 4
The fuses will be either blown or not blown.
Let's take a look at your test results:
CASE 1: The fuse or fuses were not blown. This is the correct and expected test result.
The next step is to check to see if the fan motors are OK. Go to: TEST 2: Testing Fan Motor 1 (3.0L).
CASE 2: The fuse or fuses were blown. Replace the fuses and retest.
Fuses don't get blown for no reason, so when you do see a blown fuse, it's usually because the fan motor is starting to draw too much amperage.