Fan Inop - Questions

[Jim Moore]

Folks, My fan didn't come on today when it should have. The fuse is good. The fan itself is good, based on me jumping the wires to the switch and getting the fan to run. That leads me to believe the switch itself is bad. Is tha common? Bike is a 98, btw.

I checked prices on the net. $44 seems like alot. Do you guys see any reason I can't just buy an on / off switch from Radio Shack and rig it so I can manually operate the fan?

[alex.s]

when was it supposed to come on that it didnt?

[Jim Moore]

The temp guage reached the top third of the sweep without the fan coming on. It normally comes on at about half way, or even less. It always comes on as I ride through my neighborhood on the way home after a hard ride. It didn't today.

[FrugalNinja250]

Originally Posted by Jim Moore

Folks, My fan didn't come on today when it should have. The fuse is good. The fan itself is good, based on me jumping the wires to the switch and getting the fan to run. That leads me to believe the switch itself is bad. Is tha common? Bike is a 98, btw.

I checked prices on the net. $44 seems like alot. Do you guys see any reason I can't just buy an on / off switch from Radio Shack and rig it so I can manually operate the fan?

Make sure you get a waterproof switch, and that it's rated for the amp draw of the fan. The schematic shows a 10A fan fuse, so you'll need at least that much. However, I bet you can buy a used fan switch for a lot less than the price of a new one, they rarely go bad. Post a want-ad over at Ninja250.org and here in the mall section.

Just did a quick perusal of Radio Shack's website and they don't seem to have one that work in this application. There are plenty on ebay, though.

Edit to add: You can check the switch pretty easily by using an ohmmeter and some boiling water.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Jim Moore

The temp guage reached the top third of the sweep without the fan coming on. It normally comes on at about half way, or even less. It always comes on as I ride through my neighborhood on the way home after a hard ride. It didn't today.

id be more concerned about why its overheating. not why your fan doesnt work.

[Jim Moore]

Well, I spent so much time unplugging and re-plugging the connector that my problem seems to have fixed itself. I guess there was some corrosion at the switch connection. All better now, for the time being. I bought a waterproof on/off switch in case it goes bad again.