Backfire: What Made Vickie Click?

I just read the article in the June 2008 Motor Age magazine about odd noises under the hood ("Clickin Vickie"). My only thought on this coolant fan relay issue is the fan motor.

Jan. 1, 2020

2 min read

Dear Mr. McCuistian,

I just read the article in the June 2008 Motor Age magazine about odd noises under the hood ("Clickin Vickie"). My only thought on this coolant fan relay issue is the fan motor. Is the amperage draw too much, which would cause the relay to fail? I am not a Ford tech, but have been around GM and Chrysler dealerships since 1980, so I might know a little about things like this. With that kind of mileage, you might look into that. Maybe it overheated at one time, lost coolant because the fan motor stuck, boiled out, never got topped off like it should have been or maybe it wasn't checked regularly, who knows. Just by looking at the pictures of the relay, I'd have to say it saw excess amperage draw on the main line back to the fan motor. Anyway, I always liked digging into drivability and electrical stuff to figure out why, whatever, did what it did. Thanks for the great articles!

— Jim Johnson Parts/Service Director Wes Finch Auto Plaza Inc. Grinnell, Iowa

Hi Jim,Actually, on a really high mileage car like that, the relay contacts generally start dropping voltage, heat up and oxidize, and the snowball effect takes over from there, kind of like a headlight switch failure due to added running board lights and whatnot. Generally, a high current fan motor (or other such load) will blister some other wires and/or destroy some fusible components.

High fan motor current would have been a possibility, I suppose, but the Crown Victoria has been doing well now for a couple of months, and it is driven just about every weekday. I'll try to remember to do a current draw test on the motor to see what it is. That old blue ride now has 208,000 miles on the odometer and runs like a sewing machine.

Thanks for your e-mail! Richard McCuistian Contributing Editor