Well i checked the relays they have power. Hook up the fan straight off the battery it works. When the cars is running the fan doesnt run and it overheats after 10 to 15 miles of driving depending on how i drive it. Could teh fan not working be the only thing making it overheat or what? what should i check next?

 

may sound dumb, but is it really overheating? are you going by the guage or some other indication? do the fans come on with the a/c, (they should)? quite a few things can cause overheating, i'd recomend using the search on this site, it will give you a whole lot of ideas and things to check out, as well as what others have found out about thier overheating car, good luck.

 

my car is the base base model no ac no pwstering, I read alot of overheating post and none of them involved the fan not running, i could tell it was overheating by the gauge and i pop teh hood and the radiater was steaming a little bit and teh pressure in teh hoses was crazy. The relay for the fan has power n i tested it from the battery to the fan and the fan works. The plug connecter the fits into the fan doesnt have any power. But even then the fan should still work but would that cause it to over heat with no fan. Im about to mount up a 12v toggle switch. Im going to replace the temp sensor n thermostat tommarow but i dont think thats it.

 

But if you are driving the car, the air circulation should keep it cool.. its only a 4 banger!.. unless you do alot of city driving... My suggestion: Check your radiator cap.. your hoses... and your RADIATOR! I checked everything, it would overheat.. fans kicked in though... and then I took the radiator out one day.. and all the fins fell apart...

 

also check your head gasket (if it's an MLS)
and your water pump

 

if you hooked it up direct and the fan worked but dosen't work when running at temp, i would have to say you have a bad wire between the relay and fan, it's a pain in the butt however follow the wire from the relay to the fan looking for pinched spots, bare spots, or any damage, and it wouldn't hurt to look at the fins like neonrt98 said, as that happened to me on both my cars. good luck

 

Im still new to the Neon crowd but I do know elect systems... do this all with AC on if no ac run till hot
first as said before the fan should come on with the ac if not leave ac on and check with a voltmeter for power..
if no power follow the power lead back their should be a fuse link (piece of wire that burns when overdrawn)

if power and no fan check ground (this is what activates @ the temp sensor) use the volt meter again to check for ground once again follow it back to the relay checking all connections then again check the lead from the temp sensor..
by chance have you done any coolant system work lately.... ie replace temp sensor they should have 2 sensors if anything like most GMs 1 for your gauge and 1 for fan.....

You have already tested the hard things... finding a short is easy just 1 step at a time....