senornose »
The following is an update of the cooling fan issue I had and how it was solved.
Time: Once replacement assembly arrives, this would take me no more 2.5 hours to do again
Technical difficulty: 1.5/5
Frustration level: ~2.5/5
Disclaimer: I’m not a professional mechanic and YMMV if you choose to use this technique. Remember safety first. You should not need to lift the car for this technique. Don’t force anything during removal and re-installation as it could cause damage to hoses, wiring, and radiator.
See photos for reference.
Based on what I read, the general consensus is that if the radiator cooling fan (B, larger one, driver side in this dual fan assembly), remains on after the car is turned off to the point it drains the battery completely (i.e., car is cooled off, fan stays on for an hour+ until no more battery power will drive it), the fan relay is to blame. I think it’s reasonable to extend that to the smaller fan (C) as well, but I didn’t have that issue. Unfortunately the general consensus is also that the fan relay is integrated into the entire fan assembly, and not a serviceable/replaceable item (I plan to look into the old fan relay when time permits though). Note, the condenser cooling fan (C, small one, passenger side) seemed to be fine in my case.
I then clamped and disconnected hose (#’s 2 and 12) and pushed them to the side as far as possible. The supply/control to the fan was disconnected from the assembly (#8, though not a great shot but it’s obvious), temperature gauge wiring disconnected (#7), all the clips that hold on the T gauge wiring (#’s 3, 5, 6, etc) were disconnected using two small flatheads above and below as they have teeth on them, the stabilizer bracket nut for the solid tube (#4) was removed. Follow this solid tube towards the middle of the engine and you’ll see a press on fitting that attaches it to the two AC hoses (I believe) that are also in the vicinity. Pull that free. You’ll also see some ties (#’s 11, 13, and 14) that should be disconnected/zip ties cut in order to move that harness out of the way sufficiently. Finally, remove the air intake hose (#10).
In my case, Vida was not showing any specific errors regardless if the fan was connected or disconnected (explained below).
Thanks to some guidance in this thread, I ran a few tests.
Disconnect battery. Disconnect the temperature gauge connection (#7). As mentioned, nothing looked abnormal on Vida, temperatures included. Reconnect battery. The fan remained turned on.
Disconnect battery. Disconnect the the supply to the radiator cooling fan (A, tough to get at but doable by hand). Reconnect battery. Run the engine with the fan power supply disconnected. Shut off engine, disconnect battery, reconnect fan power supply (A). Reconnect battery. See if there was any sort of resetting of the relay. The fan remained on.
Using Vida, try to turn the 100% fan off/on. The fan remained on at all times. I was able to control the 33% and 66% fan settings (C) remotely using the Vida. I was unable to affect the large cooling fan in anyway using the Vida.
At this point I was convinced enough to replace the fan assembly. The battery was put on a charger and I ordered a fan assembly as well as a gallon of zerex G48 50/50.
Once the fan assembly arrived I inspected it, checked the connector types, and measured the dimensions, including tabs end to end/OD to make sure it was same as the installed fan assembly, which it was.
The fan tab end to end measurement is large enough that I opted to make room for removal and installation by removing and loosening several hoses, stabilizers, zip ties, and air intake hose.
To start, I drained about .5 gallons of coolant.
At this point it’s simply a matter of opening up the locking tabs on the top of the radiator (#1, there is another on the driver side top) with a flat head and pulling out the old fan assembly out of the cradles. Take care not to damage the radiator or the tabs. The bottom two cradles the bottom tabs rest in do not have this locking mechanism. There were no other screws, bolts, pins or ties holding my fan assembly in place. It was a tight removal, but I was able to wiggle it out in about 10 minutes without causing any damage to the radiator and hoses.
Reinstall in reverse order. I didn’t force the new fan assembly in, but did use the palm of my hand to lightly tap the driver side of the fan past what I believe is the transmission oil cooler (driver side of the radiator). Once past that it dropped in easily. Be sure that the bottom tabs are seated in the appropriate cradles before snapping the top tabs into the locking cradles. Be sure that the temperature gauge wiring passes through (to the left #3) the knock-out freely.
I sprayed a bit of electrical contact cleaner in the temp and fan assembly connectors, and added a bit of dielectric grease, then connected.
Once everything is back in place, fastened, zip tied… top of the coolant with a compatible coolant of your choice. Squeezing the larger hose (#2) removed some of the air pockets. Since I measured the coolant I drained I felt comfortable when I added the same amount.
Reconnect the battery. The fan should not be on if the fan relay was the issue. Start the car, the fan should spin up. Monitor the instrument panel to be sure no low coolant or other abnormal messages appear. It’s probably best to revisit the coolant level once the car has been run for a bit and after it has cooled down entirely.
Hope that helps anyone that experiences an issue like this and please chime in if something is wrongly stated.
