There are various ways to fix a faulty car cooling fan that isn’t working. When your cooling fan isn’t working, it can cause issues in your car engine.
To avoid this issue, we’ll let you know about several reasons why the cooling fan isn’t working and how to fix a car fan at home instead of paying a hefty amount to your car mechanic, to get the issue sorted.
What’s A Car Cooling Fan
A cooling fan is also referred to as a radiator fan as it’s placed directly to the radiator in some engine layouts. The fan is situated between the engine and radiator while drawing heat to the air. Just like the name, the cooling fan is a part of the car’s engine, and it stops the engine from overheating.
Types Of Cooling Fans
There are two types of cooling fans in your car.
- Mechanical fan
- Electric fan
The engine operates the mechanical fan while the battery powers the electric cooling fan. When the engine temperature reaches a certain level, the electric cooling fan turns on. The electric fan is necessary when driving slowly or in traffic. The electric fan depends on the battery so remember to test a car battery just in case if it has a fault or needs to use a car battery charger if it has become flat.
The wind is easily passable through the radiator to cool down the coolant with no issues when you’re driving fast. However, when you’re driving slow or are stopped for a brief moment, the wind is not going through the radiator, and that is why a cooling fan is necessary.
Cooling/Radiator Fan Functions
Before we let you know how to fix a car fan and find its faults, you should know what exactly a cooling fan is and what its functions are.
A cooling fan is an important part of a car’s cooling system. It uses coolant to get rid of all the heat absorbed by the engine. It works by pulling and pushing air through the radiator. In newer engines, the fan can be turned on in two different ways, an electrical system or a thermostat. The electronic system is notified when the coolant gets hot in the engine. When the coolant gets hot, the fan turns on by an electrical relay switch. The system stays at rest until the engine gets hot or the car is at one stationary place.
Always be sure that you have the best radiator fan, so your car engine never heats up and causes issues.
Reasons Why Your Cooling Fan Is Not Working And Ways To Fix It
Either a blown fuse, broken wire, or a bad relay are culprits to why your cooling fan isn’t working. A low amount of coolant or a broken fan can be possible reasons too.
Blown Fuse
A fuse supports all electrical functions. A fuse cuts the electric supply to any electronic equipment if an increased electrical surge goes through it. This saves the electrical equipment from damage. This is called a blown fuse.
You don’t have to worry about a blown fuse as checking and replacing fuses is easy. It will fix the issue and doesn’t cost much. If your cooling fan has stopped working, check the car’s manual to see where the fuse is located. The fan uses a big fuse of about 50A. There could also be a smaller fuse for the fan control module as well.
Broken Wiring
If the fan isn’t working even if the car overheats, the issue can be a faulty wiring system so work on the car wiring system to check for any faults. Check the connections that go to the radiator fan from the relay or control unit. Look for corrosion signs in the connector plugs. See if the relay and control unit’s connector plugs as well.
You need to check with a multimeter to know if any power is going to the radiator fan; however, measuring with a multimeter isn’t always effective as the wires suffer from a load to see their functionality.
Low Coolant Amount
A low coolant level can get air in the system. The coolant temperature sensor wouldn’t be able to read the correct coolant temperature in this case. To fix the low coolant issue, you simply require the right amount of coolant for your engine.
A low amount of coolant can cause the engine to be seized and overheated. Unfortunately, there’s no way to fix a seized engine by yourself, and it is pretty expensive to get it fixed.
Broken Radiator/Cooling Fan
When the fan isn’t turning on, the reason can also be that the fan itself is faulty. There are electrical motors inside radiator fans. These motors can wear out as time goes away. It takes about a few years for a fan to wear out. To test the fan.
- Take a wire from the car battery.
- Unplug the radiator fan connector.
- Put a 12v+ ground to the connector.
This is a fairly quick, simple, and easy way to test a broken radiator fan test your radiator fan so you can replace it with a new one, and the issue will be resolved.
Bad Fan Relay
There is a relay that powers the coolant fan. The radiator fan draws in a lot of power, and this relay can sometimes get damaged, which stops the fan from turning on.
The fan relay is in the engine bay’s fuse box. Testing a 4 pin relay is easy and doesn’t require much effort. First, take out the relay and give pin 85 and 30 about 12 volts. Next, ground pin 86 and see if pin 87 has any voltage. Connecting pin 87 to something that draws a lot of power, such as a fan, is a good idea.
Conclusion
An overheated engine is dangerous. Some faulty electric parts can cause discomfort while driving, but others can simply be a potential risk. Knowing how to fix a car fan that is faulty is necessary for a radiator but in case the radiator has worn out or is faulty, the solution will be to remove the car radiator and get a new one.
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