I don't believe it...

[mickydoo]

Now, of all things, having sorted out the cooling pipes etc at the service, the flipping cooling fans aren't kicking in.

I just had my cerb warming up on the drive before going for a spin, and after 5 mins went out to take her out and steam is escaping from the coolant cap and the temp is rammed at 110deg.

Lift the bonnet and surprise, the fans aren't spinning, and the water is overheating. So immediately I turned the ignition off. Is there a way I can activate the fans immediately?

I'm not impressed - things just seem to keep failing and I've only had the car 2 months.

Is this really typical of Cerbera ownership, or is it more a case of perhaps the last owner or two having left things which are now coming home to roost, and perhaps if I just stick it out till the warm weather, all will be ok if I fix these little niggles?

So, what is the likely cause of the cooling fans not kicking in?

[Jabbah]

I had this happening a couple of weeks ago. Did a search on here and most likely cause was the water temp sensor connector. Found it, contacts were all corroded, cleaned them up, plugged it back in and fans started working again.

[mickk]

There was a thread about this last week i think, you can un-plug the sensor located under the lower panel this should bring the fans on.

I had the same problem as you, it was the fan plug connectors that were corroded. Un-plugged, cleaned and plugged back in.

All working okay

[Allandwf]

Unplug the temperature sensor, it's on the rail beside the steering rack, and the fans should default to on. Sounds a bit like an airlock, they can be a pig to bleed. Best bet would to be to hook laptop to it and see what temperature the ECU is seeing, and not to go by the gauge on the dash.

[mickydoo]

The sensor should be new as the cooling pipe was replaced with a stainless setup only 5 weeks ago. Pods they just used the old one but was sure they said it would need replacing anyway when they quoted me. Will check. What else might the cause be?

[alinton]

Well if you disconnect the sensor and the fans come on, then the sensor is at fault.

Easy diagnosis.

A.

[mickydoo]

Thanks, and yes the sensor when disconnected has caused the fans to kick in. So clean up job with a bit of WD40 required. I suspect a bit of moisture given all the rain recently has crept into the connector, so WD40 should do the trick.

[Tacchino]

Mike

Considering the moisture issues these cars suffer from it might be worth you getting yourself a good outdoor cover.
If I leave mine out in the rain it just fills up with water in both footwells!

Having just spent a good chunk of wedge on a replacement ECU (moisture damage to the original unit) plus more money on fixing moisture damaged connections for the doors / windows I'm not taking any more chances.
The car now lives in an outdoor Carcoon until such times as it's given some exercise.

[mickydoo]

Fair point - I'd been a bit lazy given the weather had been "showery" - but like you say wet is wet.

Car cover now being put on the car in a disciplined manner until I can get her in the garage - bl***dy mate who offered to do some carpentry for me (for money), has only half done the job and left a load of unfinished shelving in my garage. Fortunately I haven't paid him, but I think now is the time to chase him up or threaten to not pay him and get someone else to finish the job (it's been sat there for the last 6 weeks....)

Mike

[FarmyardPants]

Given the potential for catastrophic damage through overheating, some wd40 on the plug seems like a good bit of preventative maintenance for everyone I'll do mine...

[mickydoo]

Indeed it is a good idea. In fact I did wonder why on occasion my water temperature was getting a bit warm. Now, it seems the fans are actually kicking in reliably at 100deg. So the temperature yesterday even when I was dawdling a bit only ever got to 100deg on the stat before it started dropping due to the fans kicking in. :-)

So, those of you that see the temp creep up to 105 or 110, I suggest you spray the sensor connector liberally with WD40 and see if you get an improvement.