Wife called me at work to tell me her fan was stuck in the on mode again (happened once before about 4 months ago). Told her to go into the fuse box to pull the fuse (couldn't have been prouder, she has never messed with the car before). Got home a couple of hours later and tried the previous trick - let it rest for a couple of hours/overnight and it should reset itself. Alas, it has not reset. So I explored the site to find solutions. Tried the tapping of the box trick - I have an S, so I do not know if the tapping with a screw driver on the passenger side of the radiator works - hasn't so far. Disconnected the connector on the driver side - which is nice because I don't have to pull the fuse. I haven't explored the leaking antifreeze resevoir, I'll do that next, but I did top it off recently and it seems to be at the same level.

I'll look into replacing the thermostat. Has anyone looked into replacing the relay only (vice the entire unit)?

It's a 2006 Pepper white with 85,000 miles

Thanks,

Brendan

 

Strange, the sticking relay was notorious on the early 02-03 w/ the 2plug fan harness. The relay was in the fan assembly, not in the fuse box yet. On those early gen1s, this is what can be done:
There's a constantly live line that feeds the relay even when engine is off. On the fan side, splice a fused switch onto that live line. Put that switch inside the car so everytime the relay sticks when you park, you can shut the power off the stuck relay & the fan conveniently.
On the 04-06 updated single plug fan assemblies, the tapping won't work as the relay isn't in the fan assembly anymore. It's pretty easy to swap out the faulty relay in the fuse box. If symptoms persist, you might have other issues causing the temp spike that would trigger the relay. A bad thermostat, coolant temp sensor or a busted low speed fan resistor are among them.
If you still want the manual switch option, find that constant live line that feeds the high speed fan relay.

 

You say "aux fan"....
This is usually what the PS fan is refered to....
But your post seems to indicate the radiator fan issue....
Just to be sure....you are referring to the............fan.

One more thing...assuming it us a radiator fan....
If the coolant got low due to a leak....the fan may run for a COUPLE MINUTES after shutdown....especially if the motor is hot....the tank level does not mean the system is full...it may have lots of air in it...It can mostly fill/self bleed....but not totally....