No shroud, cond. fan doesnt work, but no overheating

[Neejay]

My cond. fan doesnt cut on at all, not even when idling or by testing it by cutting the a/c on (even though it needs charging + a new hose). I also dont have a fan shroud. Ive replaced my water pump and thermostat though. My car has been like this since I bought it in March 03'. My temp gauge seems to work fine, going directly to the middle of the gauge.

Now, some people are telling me that my car shouldnt be running and should be overheating. I dont know what to do though...Im gonna start looking for a new fan just in case though. Cause Im trying to get my a/c fixed with basically only a mechanical fan w/o shroud.

What should I do?

[projectRDM]

Throw away your OE temp gauge first off. Trusting it is like trusting a loaded gun in your mouth with my finger on the trigger.

The car may be not be getting hot, otherwise the CTS would tell the ECU to turn the electric fan on, however either part in that equation (CTS, cooling fan relay, cooling fan motor) could be bad and you wouldn't know it. Test the entire fan system to make sure you're not boiling over coolant and you just don't know it yet.

[Neejay]

Throw away your OE temp gauge first off. Trusting it is like trusting a loaded gun in your mouth with my finger on the trigger.

The car may be not be getting hot, otherwise the CTS would tell the ECU to turn the electric fan on, however either part in that equation (CTS, cooling fan relay, cooling fan motor) could be bad and you wouldn't know it. Test the entire fan system to make sure you're not boiling over coolant and you just don't know it yet.
Damn...thats not good.

How exactly would I test everything? I know I could somehow run a wire directly to the battery from the fan, but I dont know how to hook it up. Ive tried to read the FSM, but I dont know jack shit about electrical car stuff.

And what should I use in addition/to replace the OE temp gauge?

Like I said, Ive read up/searched on the regular elec. rad. fan wiring, but I still dont understand.

EDIT: Also, the fuse was blown, so I thought that was it. But it still doesnt cut on.

[theicecreamdan]

I've ran my KA with NO fan at all for a few days that I was trying to figure out where I had put it, as long as its either idling, or getting airflow across the radiator I never had any overheating issues.

Doing donuts and stuff like that would overheat it pretty quick, because it wasn't getting any air to the radiator and stressing a lot,

and one time I did overheat my car pretty bad when my electric fan had a wire fall off, and also had a flat tire, and I was in the middle of nowhere so I drove like that for a few miles at about 10mph and when I got to the gas station my car was way hot... but it still cooled off pretty quick just idling, and the fan plugged back in.

[Neejay]

I've ran my KA with NO fan at all for a few days that I was trying to figure out where I had put it, as long as its either idling, or getting airflow across the radiator I never had any overheating issues.

Doing donuts and stuff like that would overheat it pretty quick, because it wasn't getting any air to the radiator and stressing a lot,

and one time I did overheat my car pretty bad when my electric fan had a wire fall off, and also had a flat tire, and I was in the middle of nowhere so I drove like that for a few miles at about 10mph and when I got to the gas station my car was way hot... but it still cooled off pretty quick just idling, and the fan plugged back in.
Im thinking that having the fan actually work would yeild benefits (although I know Im not really having any problems right now). I think the fan would/could prevent anything from happening.

But I cant find a simple FAQ or explanation SIMPLIFIED enough to understand it...like a "Fan Wiring for Dummies". All I want to do is test my current fan, and possible re-wire/get another fan to run based on temp/switch control. A SIMPLE explanation.