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Dear AZTRaveller,
Perhaps I am in error, I meant to bypass the sensor, unplug it and jumper the plug, with the engine fully warmed up. That would not hurt the sensor, would it? My experience with temperature sensors has been that they are just electrical on off switches and it would do no harm to jumper past them (if the engine is warm and you are not sending signals to a part of the vehicle that should not be on if cold). That should tell you if the thermosensor is bad. I guess if you have an ohmmeter you could check the ohm reading when cold and hot across the sensor to see if there is any change, that would be safer.
On the straight wiring of the fan from the battery, wouldn't that tell you if the fans are oK? As you mentioned, if they won't spin by hand, they are bad, but they could turn by hand and still be burnt out, couldn't they? Would direct wiring them be a way to check that? The fuses are the obvious first step, I didn't think of that. The technology I am used to dealing with is more of the 1st gen. models, I had a 90 for 15 years, and they controls were much simpler than now. I didn't think the fans even had a fuse, just a relay. But that is where I am behind the times. Thanks for the cautions.
tcwagner1

I'd guess AZ used a kitchen pass tonight.

> No you won't hurt the sensor that way. By the way it's called the Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor or ECT sensor.
> Spinning the fans only checks for binding bearings. The motor windings could be burned out. You are correct. Keep in mind though that binding fan motor bearings create excessive current loads and will fry the "relay".
> IMHO the easiest way to test the fans is to install a jumper wire at the disconnected radiator cooling fan relay harness. I believe it's pin #1 (dark blue w/green stripe wire) to pin #2 (orange w/red strip wire).

 

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I replaced the relay on the bumper cross member and the light went out. I ran it for a while and still no fans. Check engine light is still out and no codes. I guess I will drive it some and see what happens. Any ideas? Thank you in advance. This is a great site.

First make sure the fans spin freely by hand with the engine off. Crank it up and turn on the A/C. Do the fans come on within a minute or so?

 

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The fans turned on...now I won't worry about over-heating! Thanks to all that offered their knowledge. It saved me at least $400.00.

Are you saying the fans turned on when you turned on the A/C? That's good but, that's only one of two modes for cooling fan operation. The fans should also come on when coolant temp reaches around 230 deg f. Let it idle in the driveway till they come on. A warmer day would help.

 

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Happy to hear all is well. Thanks for posting the fix.