I have had to replace a power steering pump because of a cooling fan failure already. As a result I keep a pretty close eye on that cooling fan to make sure that it is working. I usually turn on the air conditioning to start the fan (something that I learned from this forum). The thing is that my air conditioning has failed just recently. I don't mind the loss of the air conditioning for now but when I did a check on the power steeing pump cooling fan recently, it wasn't working. I am wondering if the loss of the air conditioning could somehow stop the pump cooling fan from kicking on.
Any ideas?

 

I read a post from a guy that listed what Bentley says are the conditions that turn on the low and high speed radiator fan (and I think ps fan is the same circuit)

Obviously coolant temp will do it, but the other thing is X # of Bars of Pressure in the cooling system. Not sure exactly what that means, but I assume it's the freon Gas being pressurized by the AC compressor.

 

My engine cooling fan is working so is it possible that ps fan is working but I just can't trick it into starting up by turning on the air conditioning? I guess that I can just let it run until the engine fan comes on and then check the ps fan.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking for yours.

My ps fan doesn't work, but the pump runs fine. I need to look at fixing mine before the pump fails.

I know with mine, the fan doesn't even turn freely by hand -it's gummed up with dirt I'm sure. My AC and cooling fan both work though. I was planning to remove mine, try to clean it up, and jumper it to 12V power before I buy a replacement ps-fan.

Edit; ps, sorry to hear about your AC. Hope you can stay cool inside the car.