phil0618

This one is a bit vague...

The wife called and said "your car is making noise". I asked her why she was driving the 968 instead of her car. She said, "I'm not, I just came out into the garage and the car was making what sounds like a fan noise" and then pointed the phone toward the car. Clearly there was a noise, but it didn't sound like a high speed fan. But hey, it was a phone call.

The car was not warm. It hadn't been driven in days. No key in the ignition, doors all closed etc.

Anyone ever hear of this? I'm aware the fan can run when the car is off, but it seems like that would be when the car is warm.

Did a cursory glance around the site. Saw three things listed as potential issues.

Temp sensor
Relay
Resistor

Also, I think I've read that the fan is supposed to be two speeds, but I'm not sure mine runs at two speeds. I think it's essentially on or off and suspecting that it is running at the higher speed since it is pretty loud.

Any insights greatly appreciated.

Phil

chudson

Phil - my red coupe did the same - it was the control relay failing. 968gene's Midnight Blue cab also did the same and it's one of the stories we laugh about. Gene travels a lot and would often come home to find his 968 battery dead. We repeatedly checked the car and could never find an excessive parasitic draw. Then one weekend he walks out into his garage and hears the fan running with the car cold / been sitting for days. As he is telling his wife about the discovery she states:

"Oh that noise? It does that all the time when you're not here!"

LOL - and she had NEVER thought to mention it!

Our wives aren't exactly "car" smart. But Gene's cab is now fixed! I believe same part - control relay. I'll let Gene correct me if I'm wrong.

Without checking your car that would be my guess. And if no symptom is present no test will reveal the answer. If the relay got the signal that temperature was too high it could run the fans with the key off but it's more rare that a dead cold temp sensor would malfunction in that manner.

And yes our radiator cooling fans have 2 speeds. Mine were running on low when I caught the relay failing.

kwikt

Same happened to my 968. Fan relay........fixed.

968 GUY

My Dad called me yesterday and told me the fan was on on my 6 speed. He thought I had come to the house for the weekend.
He disconnected the batt. once he realized I was not there.
Had a good idea of the cause, but glad I did not have to look far!

odurandina

btw, when the fan runs for what seems like an excessive period of time after shutting the car off,

it's an indication of low coolant and even impending head gasket failure.

ask how i know.

.

phil0618

Hi All,
Thanks for the scoop, and the rapid responses.

I ordered the following from Pelican - $121
944-615-104-03-M504

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...5%29%2C%20Each

Will report back on my results.

Thanks,
Phil

ryan@usaimage.com

When this happened on my car the fix was a cheap temp sensor. You could pull the wires on the sensor to see if it stopped the fans before spending $121.00 on a relay.

chudson

Very true Ryan, and the sensor isn't completely out of the question but it is more apt to stick on after it has engaged from heat than to engage without reason dead cold.

968gene

it took me several years, two batteries, and two different temp sensors to finally change the relay. the major clue here is the car is stone cold. over time the relay was so bad that you could hear it "clicking" without fan engagement when the car was cold and sitting for days.

phil0618

Last night i plugged in the new relay and hooked up the trickle charger.

I bought both the relay and the sensor. I chose the relay because some of the previous comments seemed to fit my symptoms so well - the car was "stone cold" for instance.

The relay is in now and the sensor was cheap so I will include it in the next round of "while we're in there" maintenance.

Will update when I know more.

phil0618

So far so good...

After charging the battery I was able to start the car. I then let it sit for a couple days to see if there was any change, but it started right up so I took it for a drive. Everything seems fine.

I am not driving the car much as I've got a recently diagnosed pinion bearing issue, but will drive it every so often and will update this thread if there is any change, but so far the fan relay seems to have done the trick.

Thanks to everyone who weighed in with suggestions.

944 crazy

Thanks for the post, my 944 S2 just had a dead battery last night, and the fan was still trying to blow cold air with hardly any battery power left! I jumped the car, and disconnected the cooling fan fuse so I wlll hopefully have some battery power this morning.. we'll see!

phil0618

Glad the post was useful - but of course I relied on the quality input from the others in the thread.

The good news is that relay seems to have done the trick. The battery is still strong and the car is running fine.

beemozbach

I just bought 968 recently. After I turn off my car, the fan is still on for about 10 seconds. Is that normal?

kwikt

Yep.