Engine compartment fan anomaly?
12-31-2013, 06:09 PM
#1
Race Director
Thread Starter
Engine compartment fan anomaly?
The thing is on all the time, at least every time I checked it today. I noticed this AM when I pulled into the office parking lot it was on even though in my opinion the engine compartment wasn't hot.
Then this afternoon I checked and the fan came on as soon as I started the engine and the engine had been off 3 hours and the engine and the engine compartment definitely were not hot, barely warm in fact.
It was on when got to the restaurant and checked before shutting off the engine, and it came on when I left the restaurant and turned on the engine.
When I got back to the office I checked and the engine compartment fan was running until I shut off the engine.
The fan turns off when I turn off the key and turn off the engine.
I do not recall this behavior before. I have an email to the service manager/and head tech at the dealer asking about this behavior.
In the meantime, has anyone else run into this?
Oh, 03 Turbo, 116K miles. No other symptoms/odd behavior.
Oh, and have a Happy New Year!
Added: No CEL or other warning lights on the dash. And I used the OBC to check for any problems and no error messages were present.
Then this afternoon I checked and the fan came on as soon as I started the engine and the engine had been off 3 hours and the engine and the engine compartment definitely were not hot, barely warm in fact.
It was on when got to the restaurant and checked before shutting off the engine, and it came on when I left the restaurant and turned on the engine.
When I got back to the office I checked and the engine compartment fan was running until I shut off the engine.
The fan turns off when I turn off the key and turn off the engine.
I do not recall this behavior before. I have an email to the service manager/and head tech at the dealer asking about this behavior.
In the meantime, has anyone else run into this?
Oh, 03 Turbo, 116K miles. No other symptoms/odd behavior.
Oh, and have a Happy New Year!
Added: No CEL or other warning lights on the dash. And I used the OBC to check for any problems and no error messages were present.
Last edited by Macster; 12-31-2013 at 06:11 PM. Reason: Added: Added....
12-31-2013, 09:26 PM
#3
Race Director
Thread Starter
Actually, a bit of research suggests it is normal. After I posted I got the better late than never bright idea of searching for similar problem reports and based on what I found the engine compartment fan has a stage one mode of operation in which the fan runs whenever the ignition is on for more than 1 second or the engine is running.
It also has a stage two mode of operation which is triggered when the coolant temp gets to 105C or the engine compartment temperature exceeds 78C.
(There is an engine off stage mode of operation which I won't cover here.)
I do not recall noticing the engine compartment fan running with the engine on and the engine cold before, and I like to think I would have noticed that, so it occurred to me maybe when I had the Turbo in for servicing a tech installed the C5 fuse.
Some time back, around a year maybe? (back when the spoiler was acting up), while considering my spoiler options I had the car in for a suspected bad engine compartment lid switch/latch which proved to be due to me pulling the spoiler fuse to prevent the bad spoiler from deploying. It did but it also killed the engine compartment switch. During this episode techs were at the fuse box and maybe the C5 fuse got installed?
Then more recently when I had the car in for a non-operational driver's side radiator fan motor and a water pump leak (and both the fan motor and water pump were replaced) and maybe the tech noted the empty C5 fuse and installed a fuse in it?
Just WAGs. The techs that worked on the car are both off today so I can't ask.
As for the missing/absent C5 fuse (which is labeled "engine-compartment fan - optional" in my reference) I read that in some cars this fuse was not installed so the fan would not run in stage one mode because in this stage the fan motor would not generate enough torque/force to spin the fan if some debris was in the fan blade enclosure. This did not prevent the fan from coming on when second stage conditions warranted it coming on as I guess the thinking was the fan motor has more torque to I guess shred any debris.
(Of course many questions could be answered I guess by just checking if the C5 fuse is present or not. I will look at the fuse box to see if C5 fuse is present but not right now, not at work. I have a special data logger installed and some cabling it has running from it to a data recorder located behind my seat is taped to the fuse box lid to keep me from snagging the cabling with my foot as I get in/out of the car. To remove the fuse box lid I have to remove this tape and get the cabling out of the way and I'll do this tomorrow at home.)
Anyhow, I'll check into this some more as soon as I can.
In the meantime, I'm not as worried as I was. In fact I kind of like the idea of the fan operating in stage one mode all the time the engine is running.
Well, I like it as long as that is what it is supposed to do.
It also has a stage two mode of operation which is triggered when the coolant temp gets to 105C or the engine compartment temperature exceeds 78C.
(There is an engine off stage mode of operation which I won't cover here.)
I do not recall noticing the engine compartment fan running with the engine on and the engine cold before, and I like to think I would have noticed that, so it occurred to me maybe when I had the Turbo in for servicing a tech installed the C5 fuse.
Some time back, around a year maybe? (back when the spoiler was acting up), while considering my spoiler options I had the car in for a suspected bad engine compartment lid switch/latch which proved to be due to me pulling the spoiler fuse to prevent the bad spoiler from deploying. It did but it also killed the engine compartment switch. During this episode techs were at the fuse box and maybe the C5 fuse got installed?
Then more recently when I had the car in for a non-operational driver's side radiator fan motor and a water pump leak (and both the fan motor and water pump were replaced) and maybe the tech noted the empty C5 fuse and installed a fuse in it?
Just WAGs. The techs that worked on the car are both off today so I can't ask.
As for the missing/absent C5 fuse (which is labeled "engine-compartment fan - optional" in my reference) I read that in some cars this fuse was not installed so the fan would not run in stage one mode because in this stage the fan motor would not generate enough torque/force to spin the fan if some debris was in the fan blade enclosure. This did not prevent the fan from coming on when second stage conditions warranted it coming on as I guess the thinking was the fan motor has more torque to I guess shred any debris.
(Of course many questions could be answered I guess by just checking if the C5 fuse is present or not. I will look at the fuse box to see if C5 fuse is present but not right now, not at work. I have a special data logger installed and some cabling it has running from it to a data recorder located behind my seat is taped to the fuse box lid to keep me from snagging the cabling with my foot as I get in/out of the car. To remove the fuse box lid I have to remove this tape and get the cabling out of the way and I'll do this tomorrow at home.)
Anyhow, I'll check into this some more as soon as I can.
In the meantime, I'm not as worried as I was. In fact I kind of like the idea of the fan operating in stage one mode all the time the engine is running.
Well, I like it as long as that is what it is supposed to do.
