Blower and Wiper Issues after Work on Temp Gauge

[mrpowwow]

Hi Guys
New to the forum and this is my first post, I have a 1998 2.1 dj crew cab, i had the dreaded red light flashing on temp gauge and had some work done to replace the thermostat, after that work the temp gauge stopped working, the guy doing the work told me there was a part in the thermostat not working, that got replaced and the gauge now works although it docent sit in the 12o'clock position, it sits to the right on build for the red light.
Whats happened now is my fan blower has stopped working and my wipers on work on the fastest speed.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what may be causing this, i know that pre 85 models the wipers and blower are on the same relay, i have changed the relay and had no joy however.

Cheers

Andy

[MidLifeCrisis]

Welcome!! Remember to put a little 'hello' thread in the General Chat area (and also add your vehicle details/engine details into your signature so that it shows up in your posts so that folks know what you've got!!)

Can you hear that relay click? (assume you mean the 'load reduction' relay, sometimes called something like the X-relay or other such names) Might be easier to tell if you rest a finger on it while you turn key??

If the wipers work on high speed I can't see any reason why they wouldn't work on low speed (other than a problem with the wiper motor or the wiring to the wipers i.e. not something related to the coolant or coolant warning system). Or possibly a problem with the intermittent wiper relay ?? Has that been messed with at all, taken out, replaced, put in the wrong position - I think that a bad intermittent relay might also disable the slow wiper option.

Same with the fan - they all seem very unrelated to the coolant gauge? Only shared service with the wipers being the X-relay - but if fast wipers work then I think that proves that the X-relay works.

And what do you mean by this "it sits to the right on build for the red light." Assume that is a typo??
Did the mechanic replace the temp sensor on the thermostat?

[ghost123uk]

I had the dreaded red light flashing on temp gauge and had some work done to replace the thermostat, after that work the temp gauge stopped working, the guy doing the work told me there was a part in the thermostat not working, that got replaced and the gauge now works

Also, unless the van was overheating pretty badly, the thermostat (on the engine) has nothing to do with the red flashing coolant warning light. That only flashes (under normal driving) if the coolant is too low, or the engine is overheating, or if there is a fault with the circuit that controls it, often a fault with the thing on the relay board (behind the glove box) with the number 42 or 43 on it, that looks like a relay.

work done to replace the thermostat, after that work the temp gauge stopped working, the guy doing the work told me there was a part in the thermostat not working, that got replaced and the gauge now works

Just guessing here, but if the gauge worked before the work on the thermostat, but didn't after, then he "replaced" a part on the thermostat, then that reads to me that he accidentally disturbed the wires to the gauge sender (on the stat housing) and on going back, put that error right Maybe I am too cynical, but it does seem a coincidence

As said ^^^ non of the above should affect the wipers or the blower, unless of course this mechanic disturbed some other wires of course

[ghost123uk]

Oh, and welcome to 80-90 by the way

[mrpowwow]

Hi Guys
Thanks for the speedy replies, firstly it was a typo, what i meant was that before any of this work was started the temp needle used to sit bang in the middle, now since the work has been carried out the needle sits more at a 1 o'"cock" position just to the right of the bulb. I returned the van to my mechanic who carried out the initial work, he tried changing the relay, he found the one that stops the wipers working completely and replaced that with a spare but they still only worked at full speed. It just seemed odd to me that i had work carried out to fix the radiator fan not working, the diagnostics were that the fan was a bit seized and the temp sensor that controls the fan needed replacing, after that was fixed the temp needle stopped moving, i was told that something in the thermostat controlled that and that that needed replacing, that work was done and the needle started to operate again (albeit not at the 12 o'clock position) , i was then told that the fan blower had packed up and the window wipers only worked on full speed, so i am trying to find the link because i really believe it can't be just coincidence. The van has had several heating issues since i have owned it, one being the engine blowing up after ten days of ownership due to a cooling system that had every frig you could imagine to bypass sensors and not raise any warnings on the dash, since then i have been slowly trying to get everything working as it should and replacing a lot of parts.

cheers guys

Andy

[MidLifeCrisis]

Could the common link be your mechanic???

(To be fair - with vans this old, many times items are held together by rust and goodwill, so any sort of fiddling around tends to cause more failures before everything gets fixed/cleaned/replaced)

[mrpowwow]

Hi Again Guys
Just to follow up on this issue, i got in the van this morning to drive to work at 5 am it was cold ish, i drove about 3 miles along 30mph roads sat at one set of traffic lights all in all around ten minutes in the van i guess and the temp warning light started flashing red, i turned of the ignition whilst still driving along i then turned it all on again and the light had stopped flashing, the temp needle was sitting to the right of the warning light but after me turning the ignition off and on the gauge moved to a lost in the middle, i have no clue what the issue may be, does anyone have any ideas ?

cheers

Andy

[MidLifeCrisis]

the gauge moved to a lost in the middle,

Is this another typo???

How far right was the needle when the light started flashing ....... it's supposed to start flashing when the needle gets sufficiently towards the right so it may have been operating correctly and the van was overheating??
Alternatively - it could have been indicating a 'low coolant' level - have you check the coolant level in the header tank??