Evenin’ all,
I have a 1.9 DF. I’m trying to test the radiator temperature sensor as the fan isn’t kicking in when the engine warms up. I’m following the instructions on the wiki. All seems simple enough though I appear to have hit a stumbling block. Please refer to the attached pic. As I understand it, I need to remove the temperature sensor (blue arrow) by loosening the large nut (yellow arrow) before jumping the connection across the spades to test fan operability? The problem is I can’t for the life of me unscrew the large bolt as it’s been tightened within an inch of oblivion. Just want to make sure I’m on the right path before devising a plan B as to how to get the fecking thing out….
Cheers
Ali.
Hi mate, the way i test the that the switch is working correctly is to start the engine and let it idle untill the temp indicator needle reads just past the red led light in centre of the gauge, then the fan kicks in. If it didnt then I would disconnect the 2 wires that you have done and short them together, this should bring the fan on bypassing the temp sender unit. I could be wrong as I havent read up on WIKI but thats my understanding on how it should work.
Martin.
2.5 Quad Cam Scooby engine . Westfalia California 1989
Thanks for that pal. That's a lot easier than Id thought. I'll ty that in the morning.
Fan's definitely not kicking in as the needle gets right up to max without the fan coming on - is making any kind traffic a somewhat stessful experience! Off on hols in it tomorrow too
Ali
The fan wont (shouldnt) come on until at least to the right of the red LED late vans and 3/4 on early vans..
Right looking at your picture, you have 2 wires and a 3 pin switch.. so link the 2 wires together and see what happens... the switch is an issue.. you will need to get the rad hot to be able to test the switch with a multi meter to see which side closes first...
you could swap the conections it was on.. do you know which way they were??? Middle should be used then an outer if I remember correctly... if it was on both the outers then thats why it didnt work....
E D I T as missread the post... its late... long day...
^^^^^^ good advise ^^^^^^ if it then does come on then all good with the fan, if you are worried about overheating then as a temp measure connect the terminals that would go onto switch to some decent thickness wire ( worth checking but at a guess 15 amp would probably work ok ) and run inside to a heavy duty switch, that way you can manually switch the fan on from inside, then just order a new thermal switch.
It could be of course that the rad fan is not working....
if temperature does get too high then put internal heater to hot and internal blower to max... this will drop temperature a few degrees.
2.5 Quad Cam Scooby engine . Westfalia California 1989
pionte wrote:
It could be of course that the rad fan is not working....
if temperature does get too high then put internal heater to hot and internal blower to max... this will drop temperature a few degrees.
And if it looks like you are gonna be sat not moving.............switch the engine off.......
Really it shouldnt heat up so fast either so suspect poor coolant flow.. have you bled the system to make sure there isnt loads of air in there??
I'll try bypassing the switch this morning once I'm done at work and see if that kicks the fan in. In terms of reconnecting to the switch if the fan does kick in, I can't remember (didnt take note at the time) which connections the wires were connected too when I started messing about with it. I'll try different combinations of middle and outer.
The issue came on quite abruptly - I was away in it on holiday a few weeks back when it suddenly started trying to overheat. I stupidly rode my luck with it for a few days and by the time I came round to checking the coolant the header tank was virtually empty - I topped it up with 50/50 water / anti-freeze and plodded on. Checked the fuse for the fan and it had blown, I assumed that was the issue but I was just too busy to do anything about it until Monday (wasnt using the van anyway). Changed the fuse then but the fan still wont kick in.
In terms of heating up, the temp needle gets to half way along the within 7mins (consistent - measured it!) of town driving from stone cold. It usually sits at around 1/4 if making decent haste on an open road. Would you class that as heating up too quick? Maybe I should bleed the system anyway as, as I say, the coolant level ran very low a few weeks ago when the problem started.
Just to say thanks for the advice . Bypassed the thermoswitch and by shorting the two wires together and the fan booms in. Think I'll rig me up one of those manual switch devices as a failsafe while I wait for a new thermoswitch.
Final question, just to confirm, Im guessing by the fact that Ive only got two wires entering the thermoswitch that it's a one-speed fan? It's a 1982 van if that helps.....
Does the fan come on when you put the connectors together. You don't need to wait for engine to get warm. Just have your ignition on or engine ticking over, put the spades together and you should here the fan kick in. If it doesn't then maybe the motor on the fan is o/c. Presume you have checked fuses and connections best of luck. Kev
KamperKev wrote:Does the fan come on when you put the connectors together. You don't need to wait for engine to get warm. Just have your ignition on or engine ticking over, put the spades together and you should here the fan kick in. If it doesn't then maybe the motor on the fan is o/c. Presume you have checked fuses and connections best of luck. Kev
"Bypassed the thermoswitch and by shorting the two wires together and the fan booms in."
its late... long day...
