Fan not working

[BatleyBoy]

Had the cooling system over hauled about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Replaced otter switch amongst everything else. One of the fans now appears not to be working (facing the car its the right hand fan). The others working fine, cutting in at 80 degrees.
Any suggestions as to what the prob maybe?
Cheers

[Woody_450]

My fan failed due to the metal rusting in the plastic connector sitting in the pool of water that collects below the rad.

5 minutes with some sand paper cleaning and it spun up when I shorted the otter switch.

Might be worth a look...

R

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Have you checked the connections & fuses? Does the horn work?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

..swapped over the connectors to see if other fan works?

[RumbleBee]

Nice trick, how do you short the otter switch? Think mine might be defunct, but Im not brave enough to try and find out.

[andy-w]

RumbleBee said:

Nice trick, how do you short the otter switch? Think mine might be defunct, but Im not brave enough to try and find out.

Use a paper clip and bridge the two terminals of the otter switch.

As for the pool of water, i had the same problem and just added a couple of 3mm drain holes in the bottom of the body...

[BatleyBoy]

Thanks for suggestions.
I will have a look tonight / over the weekend.
Hopefully its something or nothing.

[jonnyb]

Mine did exactly that, it was the connector below the rad. Some contact cleaner and a file and it was soon working again.

[BatleyBoy]

jonnyb said:

Mine did exactly that, it was the connector below the rad. Some contact cleaner and a file and it was soon working again.

Jonnyb, are you refering to the connector that actually runs under the radiator, and not the connectors to the Otter switch?

[RumbleBee]

andy-w said:

RumbleBee said:

Nice trick, how do you short the otter switch? Think mine might be defunct, but Im not brave enough to try and find out.

Use a paper clip and bridge the two terminals of the otter switch.

As for the pool of water, i had the same problem and just added a couple of 3mm drain holes in the bottom of the body...

Cheers, will try that tonight.

[spend]

RumbleBee said:

andy-w said:

RumbleBee said:

Nice trick, how do you short the otter switch? Think mine might be defunct, but Im not brave enough to try and find out.

Use a paper clip and bridge the two terminals of the otter switch.

Cheers, will try that tonight.

The 2 spades of the otter switch are better replicated using a blade fuse. There is also less chance of shorting to ground & blowing the horn fuse. My spare parts bin/boot always has some fuses to hand, but I have no idea where I would lay my hands on a paper clip

Dave

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Daft question, but if one fan is working, how can it be the otter switch? (unless the whole gizmo is wired up wrong!)

[spend]

Doh...you need to short the otter to test if relay(2) is working & when you swap fan connectors over... Not everybody has an override switch

Dave

[Cider Andy]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Daft question, but if one fan is working, how can it be the otter switch? (unless the whole gizmo is wired up wrong!)

You're right, it can't. Rumblebee asked how to short the otter switch as an aside.

spend said:

The 2 spades of the otter switch are better replicated using a blade fuse. There is also less chance of shorting to ground.

That's good practice and much better than messing around with a paper clip. The risk of shorting to otter switch connections to ground shouldn't be a problem though, as the otter switch closes to ground, doesn't it?

[andy jb]

MAke sure you havn't got the staged fan cut in. On mine the second fan switches on when the temperature is higher ie after a spirited run etc.

Check the fuse is 40 amp and not 25 amp if it runs two fans, it is shared with horn or sometimes has two fuses on later models

[spend]

Cider Andy said:

The risk of shorting to otter switch connections to ground shouldn't be a problem though, as the otter switch closes to ground, doesn't it?

As you will have experienced with earthing problems... a bad earth is like a big resistor so acting like the most horrendous switch you could imagine - something I would just not bother risking

andy jb said:

MAke sure you havn't got the staged fan cut in. On mine the second fan switches on when the temperature is higher ie after a spirited run etc.

Check the fuse is 40 amp and not 25 amp if it runs two fans, it is shared with horn or sometimes has two fuses on later models

Doesnt the staged op cut in when the otter activates normally?
I have a feeling the horn fuse is bit of misnomer, it is normally used to power the otter switching circuit - not the switched power circuit to the fans. Hence the confusion over which fuse when fans not working (not withstanding dual realys & fuses)...

Dave

[BatleyBoy]

I’ve checked and its not a staged cut-in on the Otter Switch.
So I reckon its either a seized fan, a blown fuse or it’s a corroded connector.
We will see.

[wintrading]

There are 2 fuses!!!for every fan one fuse!!! It is easy.First swap over fans to see if the other fan is working. If it is not the fan then the fuse.

[andy-w]

wintrading said:

There are 2 fuses!!!for every fan one fuse!!! It is easy.First swap over fans to see if the other fan is working. If it is not the fan then the fuse.

one fuse on mine supplying both fans

[spend]

The OP's car looks like a later model ~ no details tho... later models will prob have 2 fuses & 2 relays.... The handbook might even correctly describe them - not to say there haven't been any 'mods'.

Dave