dime1622

I went driving around the state Friday and noticed that the cooling fans weren't shutting off. Well, lo and behold, my car battery was dead this morning. I went to jump it, and after I tried the first time to start it (didn't have enough juice yet), the fans kicked on and wouldn't shut off even 5 minutes later. So in order to keep my car from killing my battery I've had to pull my cooling fan #2 fuse once I got to work. Any idea what might be causing this? Bad cooling fan relay?

Van

Thermo switch -- the little sensor that lives in the driver's side of the radiator and has three wires going to it...

They die -- you can also pull the relay as a semporary "switch" instead of the fuse.

dime1622

Paragon has three thermo switches - 95C, 85C, and 75C - which should I get?

Jeremy Himsel

The lower temp one works best in Phoenix. You'll notice the difference. Hey, were you on the 51 this morning about 7:15?

dime1622

Yup, at that point I would have just been exiting at Colter.

Jeremy Himsel

I think I passed you in my silver c5. It was a 951 with out of state plates and Fuchs in the fast lane( I was in the carpool lane).

dime1622

Yup - I'm too lazy to put on my new AZ plate

Jeremy Himsel

I was going to honk but I realized that I was driving any of the p-cars just as my hand made it to the horn.

nize

i will bet it is the fan relay. i've had to replace mine three or four times in the past 17 years. now i just keep an extra one handy.

cruise98

if only one fan was running continuously, it is the relay. I have had three go bad in the last two years. they are not inexpensive, but way easier to change than the thermo switch. unless of course you enjoy coolant in your eyes and armpits. the factory warranties them for two years, so i got one free.

dime1622

I may just order both.

dime1622

Ouch, the relay is 140 bucks!!!

nize

i think they make a nice profit on those relays as a frequent-replacement part.

cruise98

Try Hennessy or Park Place Porsche. You might be surprised at their prices for relays.

ittia

Do the test located here: http://clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/cool-01.htm to see which is defective. It saved me some cash as I originally thought it was the relay. Good Luck.