For today's project, the electric radiator fan motor is going to be replaced on a 1998 ford crown victoria police interceptor because it no longer spins when power is applied.

In a civilian crownvic, the electric fan motor will often last the effective life of the vehicle. But in a police cruiser with lots of idle time, radiator fan motors are left spinning for hours at a time. This extreme duty cycle often causes a rather short lifespan for the electric radiator fan motor.

The first step is to open the hood and pull out the electric fan shroud assembly. This is held in using a couple bolts and a couple plastic tabs which disengage when the fan motor is lifted upwards.



Here's the fan shroud assembly out of the car





Now use a hammer and flat blade screwdriver to slide the retaining disc off the fan motor shaft







And the fan blade assembly can be pulled forward away from the motor







Here is a closeup picture of the three bolts which hold the fan motor to the shroud





And the retaining bolts removed



The fan motor can now be lifted away from the shroud













And the new fan motor installed



The fan blades reinstalled onto the motor output shaft







The fan blade retainer loosely reinstalled using bare fingers





Slid forward using a flat blade screwdriver and hammer








And finally everything can be reinstalled back into the car.

Notes:

• The fan motor electrical connector has a tendency to corrode on 1998-2000 crownvics manufactured before 04/08/2000. A repair wiring pigtail is avaliable from ford to correct this issue. Motorcraft #WPT-168. Service Part #1U2Z-14S411-ADA. If you catch the corrosion early, you might be able to repair the slow or inoperative fan motor issue by simply replacing the corroded electrical connector. If you catch the corrosion late, not only will you be replacing the electrical connector, but you'll also be replacing the fan motor too because it will have melted around where the electrical connector inserts. High resistance in connector + High current motor  = Sufficent heat to melt plastic motor casing
• Alternatively, you can install a complete radiator shroud assembly (part # 1W7Z-8C607-AA) from a late2000-2002 crownvic into your 1998-early2000 vehicle along with the later style wiring pigtail (part # F8AZ-14370-AA) as suggested in TSB #03-2-6.
• The radiator fan motor in the 1998-2002 crownvics is a 2 speed unit. It's possible to have an inoperative fan on the low speed, but still have the high speed operative or vise versa. If you have your engine running with the a/c engaged, the low speed fan should start to cycle. If you jump the appropriate pins on the discharge pressure sensor, you can manually get the high speed fan to engage too. The pressure sensor on the discharge hose is a two function unit, one portion engages the high speed fan when pressure rises above a certain level, the other cuts out the a/c compressor clutch when pressure exceeds a certain limit.
• Click here to view an from MotorAge Magazine about troubleshooting the control side of the fan motor. In a discussion thread about this topic, gord_bolton pointed out:
  Good article but he should have checked the connector at the fan motor. My bet is that the connector is oxidized and drawing too much power.
• The late2000-2002 radiator cooling fans have a resistor mounted in the fan shroud to limit current for the low speed. When the cooling fan motor fails in these, it often takes out the current limiting resistor too. In special service message 15893, ford motor company says that the resistor is avaliable as a seperate service part (part # 2W7Z-9A819-AA). But this part has been discontinued, and you now need to purchase a complete radiator fan shroud assembly to obtain the resistor. Do note that the earlier 1998-2000 radiator fan assemblies do not have a dropping resistor, and the motor in these cars has two seperate wires going in to it to control whether the fan spins on low speed or high speed.
• Special Service Message 15893:  A NEW COOLING FAN RESISTOR FOR 2000-2002 CROWN VIC., GRAND MARQ., TOWN CAR
  SOME 2000-2002 CROWN VICTORIA/GRAND MARQUIS AND TOWN CAR MAY EXHIBIT AN INOPERATIVE ENGINE COOLING FAN. THIS MAY BE CAUSED BY THE COOLING FAN RESISTOR. THE RESISTOR IS SERVICED AS A SEPARATE COMPONENT. A NEW COOLING FAN RESISTOR PART NUMBER 2W7Z-9A819-AA HAS BEEN RELEASED FOR SERVICE. WHEN REPLACING THE RESISTOR, TAKE CARE NOT TO BREAK THE PLASTIC RETAINING TABS ON THE FAN SHROUD. IF THE TABS BREAK THE FAN SHROUD MUST BE REPLACED.
• On the 2000-2002 radiator fan shroud assemblies, you can short the two radiator fan resistor wires together to bypass the resistor for temporary testing purposes if you suspect a failed resistor. This will cause the fan to always spin on the high speed even when the powertrain control module requests the low speed. Although this hack will prevent engine overheating and get your air conditioner working at idle speeds again, it will also place additional load on the charging system, create lots of noise, wear the fan motor brushes at an accelerated rate, wear the fan motor bearings at an accelerated rate. If you're in a bind this hack can make your car driveable again. But it's not intended to be a long term solution for penny pinching people that don't want to pay to purchase a new fan shroud assembly.
• The 1998 and later crown vics have powetrain control strategy called "Fail Safe Cooling". When cylinder head temperature exceeds a certain level, the pcm shuts down half the engine cylinder to lower engine temperature. While this system does help to some extent, every so often a 1998+ crownvic appears at auction with an engine damaged due to overheating. So this system is not 100% effective and you'd be wise to periodically make sure that your engine cooling fan works properly.

1998-early2000 radiator fan








late2000-2002 radiator fan









Below are some pictures of the wire-wound radiator fan resistor used in the late2000-2002 crownvics:

(These pictures were original posted by BIGCity in this discussion thread)






And here are some pictures of a burned radiator fan connector from an early 2000 crownvic:

(These pictures were originally posted by horn1991 in this discussion thread)