Cooling fan: common defects and their signs

1. Damaging of temperature sensor.
   • “Check engine” indicator is constantly active.
   • Engine temperature is increasing.
   • The fan activates prematurely.
2. Burning-out of fuse, damaging of electric wiring.
   • Sound signal of the car does not work at pressing the horn button (the fuse is also responsible for sound signal).
   • The fan doesn’t deactivate after engine temperature cooldown.
   • The engine overheats.
3. Breakdown of fan drive.
   • The fan activates right after the engine start.
   • The coolant temperature gauge needle is in the red zone.
   • The radiator fan doesn’t activate.

How to repair or replace the cooling fan?

The cooling system radiator can be repaired, if a failure cause is in its electromotor. If the fan is irreparable, its should be replaced. It is strongly not recommended to use the car with the defective radiator, as it may lead to breakdown of the whole car cooling system.

It is recommended to entrust the cooling radiator  fan replacement procedure to specialists, so the part needs to be demounted and transported to a service station for diagnostics if any defect signs appeared.

Replacement can be performed single-handedly, but only if skills of car repair works are present.

The algorithm of the fan demounting may vary for every car, that is why you should check out operation manual before maintenance. Basically, demounting of the component consists of the next actions performing:

1. Set the car on a platform or a lift.
2. Turn off the ignition, remove the key.
3. Unbend the fasteners, that fix the main fan housing to the radiator.
4. Carefully pull up the housing, so upper and lower fasteners will come out of the radiator fasteners. Remove the fan.