location of radiator fan switch

[ojsmith]

could someone please tell me where i might find the radiator fan switch, and is it simple to change?

thanks

olly

[Ian Hulley]

Remove bottom grill, remove card on right bottom side (1 screw) switch straight in front of you. With a new switch in hand it takes 2 minutes to swap, being quick to stop leakage and recheck levels ... our's lost a tiny dribble in the time it took to swap over.

Ian.

[ojsmith]

done it!

also changed the dalek cap and put a new set of tailgate struts on, so i dont have to hold the tailgate up with my head when packing it up now!!

went for a drive and the fan didnt come on at all, which i think is good news, as it was on and off all the time before i changed the switch...

cheers for the tips ian, i only lost a small drip of coolant, so was quite chuffed!

olly

[Red Westie]

Quote: went for a drive and the fan didnt come on at all, which i think is good news, as it was on and off all the time before i changed the switch...

the fan is meant to go on and off ..... Needle reaches approx 2/3rds on the gauge approx, fan comes on, stays on a varied amount of time until the needle goes down to just above half way, fan goes off. If you are in traffic the fan will cut in every few minutes in a cycle until you start moving properly again and the radiator gets proper air flow through it.
Fans rarely come on in the winter and the first you know wether it is working or not is usually your first summer traffic jam (not a good time to find out the fan isn't working!) as this leads to overheating and possible engine damage.
Martin

[ojsmith]

well, it was only a short drive... i'm going to newby hall today to look at alfa romeos in a car show, so it will have a proper go, and probably be in traffic as well... surely my first foray into doing stuff on the van myself can't have gone wrong!!!???

[Nicola&Tony]

Well done Olly!

If you're driving around and keep moving rather than being at a standstill in traffic, I'd be surprised if the fan comes on because the airflow around the radiator caused by being on the move will be enough to cool the rad.

Sounds like you've fixed the erratic behaviour of the fan that you were getting before. Now you just need to know that the fan will come on when needed. Have a good run around somewhere and get the engine hot and then park somewhere and leave the engine running. Watch temp guage and listen for the fan. If the fan doesn't come on and you're getting concerned about temp guage rising, turn on the cab heater full power and set the temp control slider to maximum and that'll cool the engine (or just turn the engine off!)

Do you have the Haynes manual? It tells you how to test the rad fan in there (p.3.4, section 6).

Tony

p.s. just realised that I've repeated some of what Martin was saying . . . my apologies!