Overheating? Ground your Fan!

Overheating problems?

A 1996 Volvo 850 turbo was running hot. The owner changed the relay, the cooling sensor, and the fan. It still ran hot, and the fan would not trigger on. Hmmmm.

The resolution? “I just looked around for lose wires, turns out I did not reconnect a black ground wire. (Remember I changed the engine.) The wire has a round connecter and I found a bolt on the block that was doing nothing so I bolted the wire down. Could this have been my problem, my fan was not grounded?”

And that’s exactly what it was. We here at MVS Volvo Forums always suggest looking for the simplest solutions first, then moving toward the complex or costly.

Swedish Chef wrote: 
“My 850 N/A fan almost never comes on unless its extremely hot out or i have the A/c on, however yours should be if its overheating, try running the engine to normal operating temp then carefully feel the upper rad hose temp (this takes some well thought judgement) if it feels hot the thermostat is operating however it may be only partially opening, obviously if its cool the thermostat is stuck closed and or you have a plugged rad. You say you changed the engine is it rebuilt or used? did you already install a new thermostat /pump. Ive also seen broken pump impellers before, does the motor suck in coolant from the overflow? If not that is also another tell tale sign of thermostat or pump failure!
Hope that helps.”

850 running hot Overheating

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