Its likely the relay as you suggested, find/buy a repair manual and look at the cooling schematic, you can apply 12 volts directly to the "fan" and see if it spins? or ohm out the contacts, does it spin freely?

 

I'd love to find the relay but nothing is labeled as such, just that 60A fuse. If anyone knows where it is, I'm all ears. I'm currently slogging through an unindexed PDF manual of 16k pages and my searches haven't helped so far.

 

 

It may have cooling fan module on radiator shroud not a traditional relay setup. Many makes and models have them instead.

 

Agreed. I finally found the radiator/fan section in my PDF and watched the video (thanks, @Tripwire ) which confirms everything. Still not sure why it needs a 60A fuse but okay. Anyways, could be the module or the fan itself. I have no diagnostic tools other than a multimeter so the tests in the video are beyond what I can do. I can try to get the meter on the fan leads to see if I measure a significant AC voltage as well as what DC voltage exists. At least I have a couple of ideas to try before paying for a replacement at the dealer.

Thanks to both of you.

 

So, does anyone know if the fan/mount/module can be replaced without removing the radiator and associated labor? I thought I remembered reading a post a while ago about that it was possible. If so, any pointers would be great.

 

There is no relay for these fans, it's a brushless fan on the ATS-V. They're made by Spal, which is usually the best electric cooling fan on the market-- which is why I find it somewhat odd that fan failure seems to be a common issue on these cars.

The fan speed controller is integral to the fan motor housing itself and the ECM controls fan speed by sending a PWM signal to the controller in the motor housing, that's why there are 3 wires going into the motor (heavy gauge power and ground, light gauge for the PWM signal.)

If you wanted to test it, you could command the fan on via GDS2 or similar while probing the signal wire to watch the PWM signal, but since fan failure seems to be somewhat common on these cars you can probably just skip the diag and get a new fan ordered and swap it. Be interesting to take apart a failed fan and see what exactly is failing.

As far as swapping the fan, I have not done that. It looks like there are quite a few cooling lines and things in the way of simply unclipping the fan and sliding it up and out. Looks like at the very least you will have to disconnect a few christmas tree wire harness holders from the fan shroud, undo the little muffler for the engine mount vacuum solenoid vent on the passenger side of the fan shroud, and unscrew and push away the transmission cooler lines from driver's side radiator tank before you can pull the fan. Maybe someone else here has replaced their fan and can offer some tips.

 

wow. Now THAT was helpful. Thanks for pitching in.

 

@tta1456 that was basically what I was seeing in the manual I have. I hate to have to have to pay for all that work but at least it would come with a warranty. Thanks for the input - well-received.

 

Got the car back from the dealer $1350 poorer. The description said the fan worked fine for ~45 minutes of idling but then stopped turning in spite of being commanded to do so. The fan motor was found to be very hot compared to the engine bay so that was the suspected failure mechanism.

 

My cooling fan went out yesterday. We should start a "fan" club and file a class action suit against Cadillac.

 

People are replacing the fan with oem unit. Why. We know its garbage that lasts 30k miles at best.

 

What do you suggest for replacement?

 

Rockauto has several options. When my time comes, I will probably buy the TYC unit.

 

I looked at Rockauto options. Why TYC over others?

 

No concrete reason, honestly. I just know TYC from several decades back when I used their fan in an application. They also make oem fans if I am not mistaken. I have not heard of others.
Spal is a solid manufacturer. It maybe a hot spot in this vehicle that is killing the fans and is not an issue with the fans themselves. GM should have speced a higher temperature operating conditions fan in that case.

 

I agree you can buy a cheaper, although unknown if it would last longer, fan assembly. However, there's a couple of things that would stop me: 1) determining whether it's the fan or control module (and whether the "fan assembly" contains both, which I doubt) and 2) the labor needed to perform the swap. I'm not an idiot without skills and tools but the process seems fraught with possible gotchas and I'd rather have a warranty on both parts and labor.

I also see Camaros use the same fan so I asked a fellow autocrosser with a '19 SS 1LE whether he was aware of any fan issues and he said nope. It may not really be that big an issue overall...

 

Based on the pictures on Rock Auto's website, the TYC fan does not have the little bypass flaps in the shroud that the OEM fan does. Those little bypass flaps open and allow more airflow through the cooling stack at higher speeds. Probably won't be an issue, but I have worked on other cars that ran hotter on the freeway after a fan swap because the new aftermarket fan omitted the bypass flaps that were in the OEM fan.

I'd love to dissect a failed OEM spal fan motor and see what's failing inside. Not much to go wrong in a modern brushless fan when it comes to the motor, so it's possibly a component failure on the circuit board.