Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

The radiator fan on my Dad's CD has given up the ghost. The car overheated today sitting in traffic, lucky no further damage seems to have been caused.
Tested the fan, 12v is getting through to the connector when the engine gets to about 98 degrees so the switch and fuses are all working, just nothing from the motor.

Has anyone tried refurbishing one of these motors before? Is it even possible?

If it is the windings, then it should be a simple job to get the motor re-wound.

Should be plenty of motor winding companies in your area.

I see you mention 12volts getting to the motor..
Is the brown ground wire okay?
Clean, dry, securely attached?.

The ideal way to check the fan, is to directly wire both fan terminals across a 12 volt battery.

But I am sure you know all that.

Haven't directly wired up the fan to the battery yet, I just checked the connector terminals with a multimeter. When the engine got up to 98 degrees, 12v came through. Plugged it back in and the fan didn't even move.

Is the fan stiff, or are you able to turn the blades by hand quite easily?
Obviously ensure it is unplugged first.

If the fan turns freely, I would run the fan directly from the battery using two stout wires.

It doesn't matter which wire goes on which pin, as long as you don't accidentally short them together.
Again for obvious reasons.

It does turn quite freely, I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Tried hooking it up straight to battery and low and behold it's working!

I've changed the radiator (needed replacing anyway) and the fan switch and it's working perfectly now.
Not sure why I was reading 12v from the connector then. Dirty contact?

Excellent news on the 'free' fix.
At least the fan cost nothing...
Even if the radiator had to be swapped out.

It doesn't take much corrosion or verdi-gris to stop the electricity in it's tracks.

My usual test procedure is to short the thermo-switch with a 20amp fuse.
If the fan still refuses to spin-up, you then need to power the fan directly from the battery.

It is strange that the fan works after replacing something that isn't electrical.
But I would not be complaining.
A fix is a fix. And a free one is a bonus.

I assume you smeared some petroleum jelly or coppa-slip on the terminals after cleaning them all up.
It should slow down the deterioration for longer.