radiator fan

[Oldiebut goodie]

I've a pdf copy of the 83 caravelle owners manual and that is the same as yours. But............

My caravelle (87) fuse position 7 is tail and side lights left.
Fuse position 1 is Radiator fan and is 30 Amps.

You are still needing a minimum of 16Amp for the old fan and 30Amp ( + wiring and relay to suit) for the newer one no matter what that handbook says going by the fan ratings as stated by California Dreamin.

A relay is only involved if you had/have a 2 speed fan.
Looking closer at the 82 and 83 diesels - they had a 16Amp fuse also.

[Steve T]

Not sure if jrt has 2 speed but mine deffo does, wiring diagram for 1 speed and 2 speed in the Haynes shows 30A fuse (yet states in elec section it is 8A)?? but can confirm position 7 on the old style fuse board is Rad Fan, I have looked on vag cat site but can't seem to find anything, even goggled it only thing I can find is.. it is a multi purpose relay. Agree that it should be 30A fuse as you say. Possible mix up with info transferred from manual to manual perhaps.

[jrt]

I to have this and believe it is the relay for the Rad Fan?




The markings are if it helps

171 937 503
07.1200.00 SJR
12V MAX 40A

Yours show a relay to the left of that, wonder if anyone knows what it is for? I can find no reference to it

I have the old style fuse in place 7 (Rad Fan) it's a pink fuse marked with 16, the Haynes wiring diagram shows 30A fuse so am a bit puzzled myself

Aha, that's the same as mine, thanks for confirming that. I don't know what the other one is, i'll worry about that when i have to.
Right, now i'll test the relay, get the wires checked and try it with a 16a fuse.

[Steve T]

According to Bentley the radiator fan on 83/84/85 water cooled is 16Amp, diesel & 86 onwards it's a 30A.

sorry it was lazy typing and reading on my part, mine is early fuse so should be 16A and is, Oldiebut goodie did say yours (jrt) could be newer fan so could be 30A. I guess the markings on the fan would confirm. If it runs with 16A should be ok, the wireing would be up to it I suspect

[jrt]

The fan i've replaced it with is the same as the old one['83 petrol caravelle, 2 speed].I'll know where i stand when i test the relay.
Thanks for all the advice.

[elsid]

On my 1985 Autosleeper high top the fuses are all white 8amp except 8 and 9 which are pink 16amp. There are two extra fuses on the end of the relay rail, a 10amp blade type which is for the dash lights and a white 8amp ceramic type which is for the rear fog light. My van has never gone above half way up the temp guage so I don't know if my rad fan works of not! There are only two relays on the rail, the flashing indicator relay and the X contact (load reduction) relay. This turns off the headlights, heater etc when the engine is being cranked for starting.
Sid

[billy739]

the missing relay in the above pics is the 42 relay for the coolant level warning system.

[jrt]

Hello, right to recap i've checked the fan, replaced thermo switch and had a mate test the wiring.
By bridging the 1st and 3rd connectors i can get high speed fan, by bridging 1st and 2nd nothing. This is with a 16 amp fuse. An 8 amp blows.
Tonight i put a new relay switch on and did the same test, high speed blows the fuse and low speed sparks-8 and 16 amp.
With the old relay back on i've got high speed as above.
So i'm going to get a mechanic/auto electrician to check properley or rewire from the relay to the fan. So i know i'm not getting ripped off does anyone know the time scale[roughly] for replacing the wires. I'm asking this because i asked a mechanic out of curiosity how long it would take to replace the cab heater/blower and he said 2 days which i was told was excesive.
thanks in advance David.

[Steve T]

the missing relay in the above pics is the 42 relay for the coolant level warning system.

Thanks billy739,
This double relay arrangement is water cooled specific, sort of makes sense that this would be on same block, it is for the water cooling system, now that you have shed light on this, one on the right for rad fan, one on the left for coolant level, as my 42 relay is missing I will have to perform a low level test to see what happens, or not happen, Mine has a separate temp gauge with the original removed, the previous owner said there were issues with the warning system, garage he used changed to what I have. I have had no issues with over heating or loss / low level of coolant, I tend to keep an eye on the temp as I know it is a major issue if there is a sudden drop or rise in temp, I will pick the brains of the wiki to see if that can provide some information

jrt
sorry if you think I have hi-jacked the thread, hope you get to the problem soon.

[jrt]

Sorted at last. Found a local[stockport area] autoelectrician who has some vw knowledge to check out the wiring. Apparently the wiring in my van is not the same as the early diagrams and looks like the later ones he has worked on. So it may have been updated when the owner before the last put the towbar on. I've got paperwork for parts/work done going back about 20 years but none for any rewiring etc so who knows when it was done.Like many people have said an 8 amp fuse isn't high enough on my wiring but i didn't want to up the ampage without someone with a bit of nouse checking the wires first. Fan now on a 16.

[faggie]

glad the fan was ok for you and its now sorted

[Cruz]

Thread revival.

The 40amp rad fan relay had bust on my early van so the 2nd rad fan speed was not kicking in. With a new 40amp relay fitted the 8amp ceramic fuse (as quoted by haynes) kept blowing whilst the plastic on a 16 amp fuse (as specified by the bentley) melted when the 2nd fan speed was left on for a while.

The later vans had a 30amp fuse so I'm going to remove the ceramic fuse and bridge the contacts with a 30amp blade fuse in a holder......I assume that would work?

[DjD]

Had the same problem - no fan , check all relays, fuses, motor, rad switch

ITS THE Negative EARTH CLUSTERS that get rusted with age and cause resistence reduce the current available to the motor

cleaned these two clusters that take all the brown wires (negative earths) behind the fuses on left pillar and all works fine now

There are 9 brown earth wires and all need cleaning and remove the clusters and clean and smear with Wd40 or vasaline to stop rusting again

16 amp fuse is fine, also check and clean earth wire from battery to body and gearbox to body will help - - salt, dirt, oil and rust kill the amps(current flow)

1.9 watercooled T25 , 1985 DG Engine, 090 3 speed auto , Cornwall

[Oldiebut goodie]

It is still a 30A fuse on later vans.