Reman Topics By Fred Padgett You can prevent owners of 1997 Plymouth Neons from going nuclear the next time you get a complaint of repeated dead batteries or a failed al- ternator. Before replacing alternators or batteries in these vehicles, check the radiator cooling fan! Chrysler suggests that the fan relay may need to be re- placed with a revised relay (part no. 04707286) and corresponding jumper wire with a built-in diode (part no. 05293157AA). To check if the relay and fan are working properly, the fan needs to be actuated with a DRBIII (diagnostic readout box or Chrysler scan tool). If the fan does not come on, or runs con- tinuously, the relay needs to be re- placed. To perform the repair, the left side fan motor connector needs to be disconnected (see Fig. 1). Next, the jumper wire assembly needs to be installed between the ra- diator fan and the headlamp and dash harness. After installing the two-way jumper connector between the fan and dash harness, the female jumper con- nector is connected to the original fan motor connector (see Fig. 2). To com- plete the repair the original fan relay is removed and the revised fan relay is installed. Minivan Meltdown Owners of 1993 to 1995 GM Lumina, Silhouette and Trans Sport minivans are likely to loose their cool due to repeated dead batteries and multiple replacements of alternators. It seems that these vehicles were built with HVAC control assemblies which allowed for about a 14 milliamp para- sitic draw to occur when the vehicle is shut off but the AC controls are left in the ““RECIRC” position. By repeatedly leaving vehicles parked in the “RECIRC” position the battery even- tually goes dead leaving the suspicion ofa defective alternator. To correct this condition GM has released revised HVAC control assemblies which do not allow this parasitic draw to occur. Replacement HVAC control assembly part number applications are as fol- lows: 16220042-Pontiacs with rear defogger; 16220052, Pontiacs w/o rear defogger; 16219973, Chevrolet with rear defoggers and all Oldsmobile minivans; 16219983, Chevrolet w/o rear defoggers. Saab’s Automatic Creature Com- forts1994 and 1995 Saab 900s may just try to do the job of cooling down the passengers’ compartment a little too well! It seems that these vehicles were equipped with ACC (automatic climate control) and in some cases the ACC may be just a bit hyperactive. As aresult the fan for the cabin tem- perature, which is supposed to only run for four minutes once the vehicle is shut off, will run continuously when the ve- hicle is not running. As a result, it ap- pears that repeatedly discharged bat- teries are caused by poorly perform- ing alternators. Saab has determined that this condition is caused by a short in the ACC ECM. In order to correct this situation, Pin no. 3 of the ECM needs to be grounded with the use of some black .5 sq. mm wire, and cable terminal (Saab part no. 41 15 499) and a wire splice connector (Saab part no. 95 60 012). To make the correct connections, the ACC ECM needs to be removed from the dash so access is available to the terminals on the back of the ECM JANUARY, 2001 (see Fig. 3, Pg. 24). Then the terminal connector needs to be connected to one end of the .5 mm wire and attached to the vacant pin no. 3 in the ACC ECM housing. The other end of the wire needs to be spliced into the black grounding wire from pin no. | on the ACC ECM wiring harness connector. This sounds like a lot of work, but in reality it should only take about 15 minutes. This is really a small amount of time compared to removing and in- stalling alternators and batteries which probably don’t need to be changed in the first place! Reprinted with permission from the Bosch “Reman Topics” newsletter. Page 1 of 1