I'm trying to help my mom with her 2002 Sebring 2.7L. She's been having endless cooling issues with it. The radiator was just replaced. It seems to be running hot (smells hot after driving), so I noticed that the fans weren't engaging. I pulled both relays. When I reinserted them the fans kicked on and the engine light came on. Here's the codes that I could retrieve from the dash display.
-P1388
-P0118
-P1490
-P1489
The temp sensor has 5 volts to it, and seems to be functional. And I can guess that both fan relays work, given that the fans came on after plugging them in. It seems suspicious to me that the ASD and fan relays are located on the same fuse block, and all are in the code listing. Is there a problem with the PCM? Wiring issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

The fans are not supposed to work all the time. They are controlled by the PCM and come on when certain conditions are met. This time of year they probably won't come on at all unless you are in a warm climate. If the temp display is working and not showing overheating, then the fans may not come on. "Smells hot after driving" is not enough of an overheating diagnosis to warrant any particular action.

Those codes could be a result of pulling the relays and running the car without them. You may want to clear the codes and see if they come back. They will probably clear themselves after a while if that's what it was.

There could conceivably be a problem with the PCM or the fuse block. You might want to inspect that fuse block very carefully for corrosion or damage.

If the car is really overheating there could be many causes. By overheating I mean showing a very high temperature on the dash gauge or boiling out of the coolant. Some of the causes of overheating could be a clogged radiator (internally or externally), low coolant or improper coolant mixture, collapsed radiator hose, blown head gasket, bad radiator cap, coolant leak, etc.

Eliminate all the cheap stuff before you start spending big money.

 

Thanks for the response. I was thinking of changing the cap first. I'm trying to avoid taking anything apart that I don't have to. Now the engine light is off. The gauge climbs to the mid point after driving it for a while, and when I open the hood it does appear to be unusually hot. I'm not sure of the actual temperature, but I'm thinking at least low speed should kick on at mid gauge. I tried turning the ac on and still no fans.

 

Based on your description that the temperature gauge "climbs to the mid point after driving it for a while", I would assume that the gauge is working properly. The mid point is where it should be, so you're not overheating with what you've reported so far.
What is the outside temperature where you are located? If it's cold winter weather, the A/C compressor may not be kicking in at all and there may not be any reason for the PCM to cause the fans to come on.