A search gets me to posts of folks who had the problem...but no hints.

The cooling fan on the 02S is stuck on and ran down the battery....again.

I had this fixed once under warranty years ago, and I recall it wasn't a trivial fix so I'm not excited about the potential for damage to the checking account.

Anyone got a get out of jail free card on this? I recall to get to the module they must pull the radiator which equals labor time.....

come on, help a retired sailor on a fixed income

 

Well as long as its on, you can make the trip south to Ft. Lauderdale. You supply the fan and I can help you put it in. Not really a hard one but definitely is a D.I.Y. kinda job. Do you know where the connector is for the fan?? Its right behind the hood release (where you lift the hood from the front) Just unplug the fan when you stop driving so it doesn't drain down the battery.

 

So the only fix is to replace the entire FAN ASSEMBLY?

I hoped for something less.....I mean this HAS to be controlled by a small temp sensor someplace.....

 

Lemme chime in on this. I'm sure you've already figured out this is a 'colorful' problem.

First off, yeah, if the fan motor is bad (HIGHLY likely due to worn out brushes) you're looking at two options.

1. Replace entire fan shroud assembly. Period. There is no place to order just the motor by itself and wire it in. If someone has information to the contrary please share! I'll tell ya, replacing the shroud assembly is not hard at all. It can be done in a matter of 2-3 hours tops, and that's taking into account labeling bolt locations so you know how to put it back together.

2. Repair the motor. A nickle says if the motor is bad it's due to the internal brushes wearing down to stubs (what happened to mine). You "might" be able to get a place that reconditions vehicle alternators to do it, maybe. I had price quotes from 90-150 for them to take a shot at it. Pulling the fan housing apart is very difficult, not to mention trying to find and solder in replacement brushes. Impossible? No. But VERY challenging.


Okay, that said. Why not make sure the motor IS bad? (this is assuming you haven't done this already).

1. If you disconnect the two wiring plugs for the radiator fan wiring harness, you can connect the hot and cold posts on the car battery directly to the primary hot and cold post on the terminaly. i.e., pump current directly to the motor as if all relays were closed. Does the fan spin up? If you need pictures of what connects to what, let me know and I'll post a few. Be careful doing this, great way to kill yourself if the two wires you hook up to the battery happen to touch each other.

2. In the fuse box in the engine compartment, if you've already checked the fuses for the radiator fan, see if the relay works. With some very careful prying using a couple of jeweler's screwdrivers, you can pop the green cap off the top of the relay switch giving you access to the coil. With the vehicle on or off, whatever, push the relay closed. The fan should come on. You can also watch the relay with the vehicle on and the A/C on. That relay should close at a given temperature point. Possible bad relay.

OR

3. ANd this is where I'm at ........Whatever is supposed to make that relay close is not doing it's job. I'm at a dead stop at that point. I keep thinking the coolant temperature sensor is involved but with no wiring diagram, I'm stuck.

 

ok for real if the brushes are bad the fan doesn't work... even tho there are no brushes in the electrical fan motor..... second of all what goes bad on them is the resistor pack. over time the green outer casing cracks and sometimes the wiring get crossed and the fan stays on. sometimes the wires go open and the fan doesn't work at all trust me i've only diag and replaced a few hundred in my 6 years working as a mini tech

quote=ionia23;2388091]Lemme chime in on this. I'm sure you've already figured out this is a 'colorful' problem.

First off, yeah, if the fan motor is bad (HIGHLY likely due to worn out brushes) you're looking at two options.

1. Replace entire fan shroud assembly. Period. There is no place to order just the motor by itself and wire it in. If someone has information to the contrary please share! I'll tell ya, replacing the shroud assembly is not hard at all. It can be done in a matter of 2-3 hours tops, and that's taking into account labeling bolt locations so you know how to put it back together.

2. Repair the motor. A nickle says if the motor is bad it's due to the internal brushes wearing down to stubs (what happened to mine). You "might" be able to get a place that reconditions vehicle alternators to do it, maybe. I had price quotes from 90-150 for them to take a shot at it. Pulling the fan housing apart is very difficult, not to mention trying to find and solder in replacement brushes. Impossible? No. But VERY challenging.


Okay, that said. Why not make sure the motor IS bad? (this is assuming you haven't done this already).

1. If you disconnect the two wiring plugs for the radiator fan wiring harness, you can connect the hot and cold posts on the car battery directly to the primary hot and cold post on the terminaly. i.e., pump current directly to the motor as if all relays were closed. Does the fan spin up? If you need pictures of what connects to what, let me know and I'll post a few. Be careful doing this, great way to kill yourself if the two wires you hook up to the battery happen to touch each other.

2. In the fuse box in the engine compartment, if you've already checked the fuses for the radiator fan, see if the relay works. With some very careful prying using a couple of jeweler's screwdrivers, you can pop the green cap off the top of the relay switch giving you access to the coil. With the vehicle on or off, whatever, push the relay closed. The fan should come on. You can also watch the relay with the vehicle on and the A/C on. That relay should close at a given temperature point. Possible bad relay.

OR

3. ANd this is where I'm at ........Whatever is supposed to make that relay close is not doing it's job. I'm at a dead stop at that point. I keep thinking the coolant temperature sensor is involved but with no wiring diagram, I'm stuck.[/quote]

 

Well mine was a re-run...what was wrong was the control module for the fan and as far as I can tell the only way - still - was to replace the entire fan assmbly.

Motor was fine but the control mod' failed...twice now in 6 years.

One lesson learned tho. Typically what fails first is the low speed end of the controller. When it goes the fan just kicks to high....for as long as high works right. Both times it locked, it would be locked in high....seems it defaulted to high on when the module bit the dust. So if your fan seems to be running in high more than it did a while ago it may be time to seek out the cause.

 

Yup, I shoulda paid closer attention to exactly which thread I was replying to since this one concerned the fan staying on, rather than never coming on at all. I'll accept that. The green housing on what you call a 'resistor' does break down and corrode, exposing the internals, but I don't see how that can cross the control wires that close the relay circuit for the motor. Unless that's past the second relay maybe?

As for the statement "there are no brushes in the electrical fan motor.....", um, are you really sure you want to stick to that statement? I mean, by all means if that's what you believe, but I can supply pictures of the exposed motor proving otherwise and I'm sure you wouldn't want to be embarassed in front of everybody, being an actual 'Mini tech' with 'six years experience' and all.....

 

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