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Manual switch for radiator fan

It's freezing cold here today but I was determined to get something done correctly on the car (after fitting the electronic ignition, she won't pull the skin off a rice pudding).

Manual switch for radiator fan. Both the water temp sensor and the radiator fan sensor appear to have minds of their own so for my own peace of mind I've fitted a manual switch. And this really IS dead simple.

1. Cut off the female connectors which join up to the radiator fan sensor and replace these with 15 amp piggyback connectors.

2. Switch. I finally managed to locate a R4 heated rear window switch (thank you Ailbe Kinane) and painted this red.

3. Using 0.5mm twin flex add 15 amp female connectors and plug into the two outer male terminals on the back of the switch.

4. Drill hole 50mm above where the choke cable passes through the bulkhead and fit rubber grommet to the hole.

5. Pass flex behind the dashboard, through the grommet and down to the radiator fan sensor.

6. Attach a pair of 15 amp female connectors to that end of the two wires ( I tend to use heat shrink connectors these days) and plug into the piggybacks.

7. Turn on the ignition, press the red rocker switch and bathe in the glory of seeing the fan work (instead of going up in a cloud of smoke).
 
Excellent job! Just a thought: which side of the circuit is the fuse for the fan? If it's BEFORE the sensor you're fine, but if it's AFTER the sensor you might want to consider an in-line fuse as well. I know I'm being a bit "belts and braces" (=anal!) but if your switch fails or the wiring catches on something you'd rather a fuse popped than that "cloud of smoke" appeared!
 
Good point, well made, and you know what my answer is Andrew. I hear what you say (so I shall go and look it up) ;-)
 
I found this image on the Italian R4 forum. Very neat but does mean that the original ashtray is then lost.
 
Richard, At the risk of sounding boring, please use the Search icon at the top of tha page. All you need to know is there. The water temperature gauge, the required adaptor to get the sensor to fit into your water pump, even how to wire it up.
 
Richard, check out a company called Durite, they do an excellent range of suitable gauges, not expensive, and good quality. They also do 12 volt sockets. Regards Brian.
 
Paul Narramore said:
Richard, At the risk of sounding boring, please use the Search icon at the top of tha page. All you need to know is there. The water temperature gauge, the required adaptor to get the sensor to fit into your water pump, even how to wire it up.

Will do
Click to expand...
 
Richard, I have no interest nor knowledge of fitting a voltmeter nor USB socket, so can't help out there, mind you I did fit a double socket in my 2CV so that I could plug in a battery charger and/or a GPS and that was simply a pair of wires to the + and - terminals of the battery. As our R4s have cigarette lighter sockets, I plug the GPS into that.
 
Hello all. I like the idea of two gauges in the ashtray space, but the ones I have are very slightly too big, plus I've discreetly hidden a 12 volt socket in there. This one is permanently live, handy for charging the phone when parked up. I've also fitted one on the side of the radio console, wired through the ignition along with the radio. So, the water temp and battery condition gauges have for now ended up to the right of the dashboard. Ok, the voltmeter is partly covered by the wheel, but that's not a problem, but the temp gauge is easy to see, so I think they will stay there. There's plenty of places to keep dusters. Regards Brian. DSC_0503.JPG DSC_0502.JPG
 
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