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Dec 29, 2010
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Mids
I've noticed my fans have gone noisey and fast and can pulsate on/off quite a lot the liquid gauge on tick over goes to 102oc before fans come and temp gauge does not exceed 90oc also on the liquid whilst driving, so its not giving me major issues but then the air con isnt working ?? so I gather I've got the dreaded fan resistor problem, can someone help shed some light on this I've tryed to search it but haven't found any real threads in what to do and what I need to buy, any help appreciated...... Other than that new fans are around £150 ish + fitting.....

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It looks like the low speed setting for the fans has gone.

There's more than one possible explanation, so some diagnosis will be necessary.

Take care, the fans are very powerful and dangerous if not treated with respect. Keep anything dangly away from them and don't touch them when they are spinning.

In normal operation both fans should come on at the same speed and at the same time.

Unplug the fans one at a time, apply 12v to the terminals and see if the fan turns.

Fan wiring colours should be
Brown/black - Earth
Red/white - low speed power
Red/black - high speed power.

If the fans fail the low speed test then it is the fan that is faulty. Replace the burned out resistors with external resistors mounted on a cooling plate if you want to save the cost of new fans. I'd recommend this, as the fan resistor is a known weakness and it seems ridiculous to replace a £100-plus fan to fix a 50p burned out resistor.

If the fans run at both low and high speeds then the next thing to test is the thermoswitch. This is mounted in the radiator header and measures the water temp in the rad so the fans only come on when they are needed.

You have plugged the fans back in haven't you? :)

Take the plug off the thermoswitch and test by applying 12V to the wiring loom plug. You will need the ignition to be turned on, but the engine need not be started.

Wiring colours:
Red - power to the thermoswitch
Red/white - low temperature output (92-97 °C)
Red/yellow - high temperature output (99-105 °C)

So you want to apply 12V from the battery to the red/white and red/yellow connected pins in turn. If the fans work then the thermoswitch is faulty. Replacement is straightforward but it's in an awkward place.

If the fans only work at high speed during this test (but low speed worked when you tested the fan directly) then the fan control module under the battery tray is faulty, or possibly the wiring loom and/or connectors. Inspect the loom and connectors to eliminate them, buzzing them out with a continuity tester if at all possible.
 
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Thanks muttley for your input ill be testing this as soon as I get 5 mins, its not just the outside temp m8 they ain't never worked since I owned the car but I do understand about the outside temp stopping them working..... Ill be certainly doing some testing I don't mind buying new fans if its the issue I'd rather spend 50p lol but ill see how I feel.... Just ordered some lowering springs and got exhaust to go on so spent some dollar on it this month


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If the thermoswitch is not working correctly would this show up with vag com... Got no stored faults showing


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If the thermoswitch is not working correctly would this show up with vag com... Got no stored faults showing


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Doubt it, you could try searching the ross tech site but I've never seen a code for it.

Be more likely to just pull up a coolant temp fault if the temp got too high.
 
Yeah ok thanks m8 ill get testing as above then get them ordered if it needs fans...

Thanks guys


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The thermoswitch is not monitored by the cars electronics, it's a completely separate dumb switch that requires no computer processing. In cars without aircon it switches the fans directly, no connection to the ECU at all.
 
Big thanks to seal_LCR got rad, fans and a front panel for £50 notes today cheers m8.....


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They'll be going in next week sometime m8 don't worry about that already stripped them down and front panel etc


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So eventually got around to fitting the new fans today and I now have slow speed fans working great and the liquid is showing 94 before the fast speed cuts in...so all is good..
But the air con still ain't working....
No fault codes, checked
Checked gas pressure, checked ok
Air con compressor starting, stopping ? Checked and working fine but still not getting cold....

Anyone have any other ideas to try


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So is there anythink else I can check to get the air con working or should I send it in to be looked at.......


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Firstly I'd take it to be gassed as they do free leak tests and if its correct then I'd look at the compressor. Are the fans kicking in when u press the aircon?
 
Yeah I got one of them self gas pressure checkers and that's saying filled the fans fire up once the button pressed and so does the air con compressor but still doesn't feel cold


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