Fan is draining my battery

kmclovina321193 · Post by **kmclovina321193** » 17 Dec 2012, 14:05

Hey all,
I've been driving my '01 Volvo S80 for a couple of years now and during the summers, the fan in front of the engine would stay on for a while after I turned off the car. I assumed it was just cooling off the engine and would usually turn off after a short time. However, sometimes it would stay on overnight and I'd find the fan pushing warm air into the car.
Now I have a problem. The fan refuses to shut off EVER and keeps running and blowing air into the car when I turn it off, eventually draining my battery. My only workaround for it at the moment is to remove the fuse that corresponds to it next to the steering column and then place it back in when I want the heat on. I usually can't control the fan speed though and it just runs on full speed. The only thing I can fidget around with is the temperature.
Anybody have any suggestions or a previous problem similar to this? It's pretty annoying so I'd like to fix this ASAP. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

Post by **precopster** » 17 Dec 2012, 14:34

The fan in front of the engine is not related to the ventlation system. It's purpose is to cool the engine only.

The other fan for ventilation of the cabin is the one that seems to be your problem. It's located under the dashboard. The fan resistor may be your problem or the climate control unit itself may be the issue. The Vida diagnostic system can test various components in the car including the CC.

Are you familiar with how to use a meter? If not just place a volt meter before the power stage resistor and vary the fan speed on the controls. The voltage should vary from the current battery voltage to much lower like say 9 volts.

I'll have to look up the location of this wiring and the wiring diagram to check if I'm correct.

kmclovina321193 · Post by **kmclovina321193** » 08 Jan 2013, 22:20

I went to my local dealer and had him run the VIDA diagnostics for $90 and you were right. My specific problem is the resistor on the cabin blower fan is faulty and needs to be replaced if I want it to respond to the controls. The guy said parts and labor would cost me about $360 to fix so I might hold off until the summer and just make do with the seat warmers for the rest of the winter. I don't think I could fix this on my own seeing as I don't even know where to begin. Any suggestions other than put down the money?