The whirring. The. Constant. Whirring.
January 31, 2011 6:20 PM Subscribe
My radiator fan JUST WON'T STOP.
I recently bought a used 2005 Subaru Forester 2.5x. It's awesome, but my radiator cooling fan seems to turn on and refuse to turn off. It doesn't stay on when the car is off (which is pretty much all my Googling turns up,) and it doesn't turn on immediately when the car is started, only after driving for 10 or 15 minutes. My temperature gauge is well within the normal range, dead center, so I don't think the engine is overheating. There is plenty of coolant and my head gaskets are fine, thank you, no oil contaminating this guy's coolant.
I can't pull anything up relevant with Google, it all seems to be either the fans never turning off or never turning on. Mine kicks in at what seems like a reasonable time, but they refuse to quit. I could bring it to the dealer but I'd really rather fix it myself. I'm handy, I've just never encountered this issue before. Should I replace the thermostat? The engine coolant temperature sensor? Is there a relay that might be broken in some way?
Oh good god help me before the whirring makes me drive this otherwise wonderful car into a ditch!
I recently bought a used 2005 Subaru Forester 2.5x. It's awesome, but my radiator cooling fan seems to turn on and refuse to turn off. It doesn't stay on when the car is off (which is pretty much all my Googling turns up,) and it doesn't turn on immediately when the car is started, only after driving for 10 or 15 minutes. My temperature gauge is well within the normal range, dead center, so I don't think the engine is overheating. There is plenty of coolant and my head gaskets are fine, thank you, no oil contaminating this guy's coolant.
I can't pull anything up relevant with Google, it all seems to be either the fans never turning off or never turning on. Mine kicks in at what seems like a reasonable time, but they refuse to quit. I could bring it to the dealer but I'd really rather fix it myself. I'm handy, I've just never encountered this issue before. Should I replace the thermostat? The engine coolant temperature sensor? Is there a relay that might be broken in some way?
Oh good god help me before the whirring makes me drive this otherwise wonderful car into a ditch!
Best answer: There was an issue with the turbo cars, described here. If there were no such issue / recall I would simply locate the cooling fan relay and change it out; but it would be worth pinging the dealer to see whether this issue (which also involves the ECMs of the turbo cars) affects the NA vehicles as well. If not, suspect cooling fan relay #2.
posted by jet_silver at 8:10 PM on January 31, 2011
posted by jet_silver at 8:10 PM on January 31, 2011
If the fan is a clutch fan, and not an electric fan, the fan clutch is bad and not releasing correctly. When the engine is up to temperature, some wax inside is supposed to melt and free up the clutch, allowing the fan to slow down. It's a cheap part ($50 maybe) and relatively easy to replace. Some cars require a big wrench to remove the old clutch, which you can rent from an auto parts store.
posted by colinshark at 9:57 PM on January 31, 2011
posted by colinshark at 9:57 PM on January 31, 2011
HA, my uncle had this same problem in the same model but 2001. He looked high and low for cheap fix but only parts he could find were over $400 for the broken temp sensor (thats what his was).
Not wanting to spend money on a car he was getting rid of anyway he sought the cheapest fix possible; he bypassed the temp sensor and ran the wires to the inside of the car and added a light switch to turn the fan on and off.
He would turn on the car and then flip the light switch to start the fan, the wires ran from under the hood to out the dash. This was the fancy way of doing it for a while, but after about three days the light switch blew. Well he tried a new house light switch to no avail, the new one blew under the same timeline.
So he decided to turn the wires on and off by just touching the wires together. Thats how it is today.
Just so you know there are options on how to fix it other then bending wires together every time you drive the car.
posted by Felex at 12:45 AM on February 1, 2011
Not wanting to spend money on a car he was getting rid of anyway he sought the cheapest fix possible; he bypassed the temp sensor and ran the wires to the inside of the car and added a light switch to turn the fan on and off.
He would turn on the car and then flip the light switch to start the fan, the wires ran from under the hood to out the dash. This was the fancy way of doing it for a while, but after about three days the light switch blew. Well he tried a new house light switch to no avail, the new one blew under the same timeline.
So he decided to turn the wires on and off by just touching the wires together. Thats how it is today.
Just so you know there are options on how to fix it other then bending wires together every time you drive the car.
posted by Felex at 12:45 AM on February 1, 2011
Response by poster: Ok, going to swap out the relay and see if the problem is fixed. Thanks everyone!
posted by InsanePenguin at 1:49 PM on February 1, 2011
posted by InsanePenguin at 1:49 PM on February 1, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by workerant at 6:37 PM on January 31, 2011