I was riding my 99 sp500 when I noticed my temp light on. I noticed the radiatior fan wasn't working and also noticed that the wire that goes into the fan motor was smoking and the plastic was melting off of it right where it enters the fan motor. I let everything cool off and then when I tried to start it it would barely crank like the battery was about dead. Then I lost all electrical power. Thank God for the recoil back up. Anyway, anybody know what has happened and/or how I can fix it.

 

what ever it is.. it dont sound good.. never heard of anything like that happening.. i hopefully some1 on here can help ya out..
sounds like there is just too much power going there.

 

Sounds like the fan is shorted out, thats why the wire is fried, and the battery is run down. Try disconnecting the fan(electrically), charge the battery, and see if things are better. The fan needs to be checked, with an ohmmeter, or simply try to turn it on, with a hot wire. My guess is that the fan needs replacement.

 

Honda buster, I agree! A short in the fan would also run down the battery.
BTW, what are you busting Hondas on? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Just a nickname....Ive owned many hondas over the years, and broke a few.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Broke a few myself. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] Broke a few others too. Do you ride now?

 

Thanks for the replies. I know nothing of electronics. So if I get my hands on an ohmmeter what kind of readings am I looking for. Also, if I end up replacing the fan, what is the cheapest place to find one. Thanks again.

Jeff

 

The first thing you should do is simply reach in to the fan and see if you can turn the bade... most of the time when a cooling
fan fails it is because the motor bearings have gone bad and the motor won't spin. You can't really tell if a fan motor is "shorted"
by ohming it out, an electrical motor has very little internal resistance...

 

Het DANO38, how freely should it spin? Initially, when I tried to move it it was very stiff. Then felt it sort of break free and move smoothly. It has been freezing temps here lately. Don't know if that has anything to do with the "breaking free". It will spin, but not very long after I let go of it. Maybe 1.5"-2" of rotation.

 

What do you mean that it will only turn 2 x? Is this with power to it or just spinning by hand.
If it was froze up (ice) and wouldn't turn then it may have just overheated the wires. Put some power to er and see if the wire starts to heat up (make sure all wires are proper guage). If fan runs good and doesn't heat up then you are prolly ready to go.
When the motor froze it started to pull a bunch of amps and burned the wire. Good luck.
You can use a battery charger as a source of power.