fans have to be manually switched on from inside the car

[Marco20VTurbo]

hi all was wondering if any one recognised this Leon

its a 2001 reg KX51 BVU Candy white with black bonnet and chequed roof

i am going to do a deal with it and my fiat coupe 20VTurbo on sunday

he said the temp guage sits at 90 degrees all the time and this is a common fualt and the fans have to be manually switched on from inside the car when sitting in traffic,. is this a common thing and is it a simple fix.

not sure how to put pictures up on here so will do when i figure it out.

also can you guys give me a couple of pointers to look out for too?

thanks

marc

 

[truCido]

Sounds like the water pump has possibly failed, although I guess it would rise above 90 if it had. How many miles has the car done? Has it every had a water pump replaced? Cambelt? Been regularly serviced? When did is last have an oil change?

Fans could be a temp sensor / switch failed I suppose, but rather than wiring them up to the inside it would have just been easier to fix!

 

[Marco20VTurbo]

does sound strange.

the car has done 83k and water pump and tensioners etc was done 3k ago so at 80k

i can have my mate look at it but the fans dont come on automatically you have to switch them on. which is strange i think could it be a sensor. its had an intercooler fitted to the front too

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

has the front mount been bodged and had to be rewired to new switches inside , rather than connect original back up ???

unless the previous owner didnt trust the temp sensors and had it rewired to manual switching , hense as soon as the temp moves on they go >>>


as for pictures , you need to use something like photobucket and post the links up

think you need some more posts first tho

 

[Muttley]

You are talking about the radiator fans, I assume, not the cabin air fan. Just checking . . .

At least two faults, possibly more.

Temperature gauge - well, it should sit at 90 all the time, but the fans should come on to keep it there. If it doesn't move at all, the coolant temperature sensor is the prime suspect.

The fans, though, are controlled by a separate thermoswitch in the radiator. If the fans don't come on at all, then either the thermoswitch or the fan control module are at fault.

Does the car have air conditioning fitted i.e. an air cooler for the cabin? If so, the fans should come on at low speed whenever the air cooling compressor is on. This is a well-known failure point, the fans themselves have resistors fitted to give the low speed running, and these fail, requiring new fans or an external resistor to be fitted. If left untreated, the fans cycle between high speed and off, and eventually burn out.

BUT, you say he can turn the fans on from inside the car, so they still work.

How does he manage to turn the fans on manually? Has a separate switch been fitted??? How long has it been like this? There is no way to do this on a standard car, so this fault has been present for some time, if it's been bodged up like this.

I'd be very wary of this car, it's almost certainly been running too hot and could easily be about to fail. You can't control the engine temperature by just switching the fans on when you are in traffic, especially with no termperature readout.

What engine is this? Petrol, diesel, 1.4, 2.5???

 

[Marco20VTurbo]

hi mate thanks for the info

the car is the Cupra so 1.8 T engine. the switch is to turn on the rediator fans when the engine is getting hot so when sitting in traffic.

its got a switch in the cabbin to turn these on. after market i suppose.

 

[Marco20VTurbo]

ok spoke to him

the guage works

the switch has been on there for 3 weeks.

 

[sheffboy]

Get some pics up mate. I'm Intrigued.

Sign up to photobucket (free) and upload the pics from your computer than copy the image code to your post.

not many LC's about that have been sprayed candy white. Does it have the Cupra R front bumper?

 

[Marco20VTurbo]

it does mate

its nice to be honest am worth fixing if it needs done

i have an account will try and put them up

 

[Marco20VTurbo]

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/...nbike/9322_258643075320_581755320_8439053.jpg

 

[Marco20VTurbo]

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss303/dickobrief/the carsnbike/SEATCupra.jpg

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss303/dickobrief/the carsnbike/GetAttachment1.jpg

ha that was quick and easy like

 

[adam cupra 20vt]

ok spoke to him

the guage works

the switch has been on there for 3 weeks.

Sounds to me like somethings gone wrong and hes just bodged it up to sell it?

 

[Marco20VTurbo]

me too

one of the temperature sensors went apparently

you think it could be a quick fix so long as it doesnt over heat yea?

i will get my mate to have a look at it he as a VAG specilist

 

[adam cupra 20vt]

I'd say if it was a quick easy fix he wouldn't have bodged it in the first place unless he doesn't really know what hes doing

 

[Marco20VTurbo]

true likes i know what you mean.

my car isnt exactly imaculate tbh needs some pits and peices sorted that he knows about so i dont mind having to do a little bit of work so long as i dont have to pay hundrends of pounds

 

[adam cupra 20vt]

You could ask him excatly what went wrong so you have a better idea of what your trying to repair?

 

[sheffboy]

I've seen this before. Can't remember the guys username though.

He's deffo been a member on here.

 

[adam cupra 20vt]

I thought that I remember some pics of it scraping his driveway with that new bumper fitted?

 

[Marco20VTurbo]

ok i understand it now.

the fans stopped turning them selfs on so he has ran a wire from the switch into the cabin to turn it on when and if the guage goes any higher. but it turns it self off when the temp returns to 90 again so back to normal. so it does work in a way he has not had a chance to take it to the garage

 

[adam cupra 20vt]

Here you go

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=220067&highlight=white+mk1+leon