G60 fan Relay

[Pickard1 0]

I will start at the beginning....

I was advised in another thread some time ago (sorry cant find it :lol: ) to change my Rad temp switch as my fan wasnt coming on til 110 degrees celcius and it looked like my low speed was broken.

I eventually changed the switch in the week but it hasnt fixed the problem. I made up a piece of wire with 2 male spades on the end and shorted the Rad fan switch. Fast fan works fine....slow fan doesnt work.

 

From the search I think that this means that the relay for slow speed has broken....? Also from the search I think that the relay should be somewhere near the Expansion tank as my car has ABS (G60 by the way).... the problem is that I cant find it.....well to be honest I dont have a clue what it looks like :lol:

Has anyone got a pic of an engine bay and could they ring it for me? Are relays just like fuses, can I but one from any auto spares place or will it be a special one?

Cheers.

Dan

[Henny 0]

From what I'm understanding from your post, you've removed the multiplug from the temp sensor on the radiator and put a piece of wire between the RED wire and one of the other two wires... on one of the wires, the fan does nothing (middle one on the connector), on the other, the fan spins normally?

 

if the fast fan works from the same power supply that the slow fan DOESN'T work from, you have a broken resistor pack inside the fan motor...

 

You have 2 options:

 

1) you can either buy a new fan (expensive but correct way of fixing the problem)

or:

2) you can bodge it by bridging the wiring so that the fan comes on flat out when it hits the low temp threshold on the switch (which is how my aftermarket fan is wired up! ;) ) basically you need to connect the 2 other wires from the multiplug (NOT the red one!)...

 

As far as I'm aware, there's no way to open the fan up to change the resistor pack... :(

[Pickard1 0]

The fan was new from VAG (153 quid.....) about 8 weeks ago.

 

I had already thought of bridging the contacts. I dont see that the fan being on fast permanently is really a problem. Especially in this weather. I thought this might be the suggested outcome. Just wanted to make sure it was safe to do.

 

I guess the only downside is that fan lifetime could be less....the original lasted 16 years with 2 speeds.....I guess if this one only makes 8 years running fast all the time I'll settle for that..... :lol:

[Henny 0]

if it's only 8 weeks old, and it's not working on the lower speed (even when you wire it straight to the battery and earth) take it back, jump up and down a lot and get a new one out of them... ;)

[Supercharged 2]

Henny, aren't the speeds controlled by the box near the expansion tank?

[Pickard1 0]

.....Mod Dispute :lol:

I think it was from one of your previous posts Supercharged that I got the idea that some kind of relay near the expansion tank was to blame....I was just about to step outside with the soldering iron......I'll watch the end of Hollyoaks first and see if it gets resolved. :lol:

[Supercharged 2]

.I'll watch the end of Hollyoaks first and see if it gets resolved. :lol:

 

Thats always the best idea!

 

I don't know to be honest but I just assumed that box contained relays and fuses and controlled the speeds and was located closeer to the battery to minimise voltage drop...

[Pickard1 0]

Hmmm.... well if anyone knows I need to drive to warwicshire tomorrow for my new job at Aston Martin (thought I would save that bit of smarmyness for my 100th post 8) :lol: ) and I dont want to break down and make a tit out of myself......and more importantly the Corrado! Not that its bothered me for the last month....

[Henny 0]

nope, the fan motor simply gets 12V onto either the low speed or high speed terminal. The resistors for making it spin slower are inside the motor.

 

The relays only control the fan run-on functions. ;) 8)

[Supercharged 2]

Ah, I see...

[Pickard1 0]

Well I decided to short out the switch across both terminals....although I should really be giving VW some sh1t for the fan breaking after only a short time but I couldnt be arsed with removing it all again.

The run-on had obviously stopped working before and is now also fixed - albeit at high speed. I'm even more confussed now though because I thought the run-on had nothing to do with the switches in the rad.... :?

[Henny 0]

it doesn't... the fan run on is on the low speed of the fan... by bridging the 2 speeds at the switch, you've set up a path for the fan run-on to feed the HI speed input to the motor... It's not going through the rad switch, it's just using your bodge link to make the fan work... ;)

 

Proof positive that it's a dodgy fan motor then... 8)

[Pickard1 0]

Your right Henny, .....one of the reasons I didnt take the fan back off was that I was concerned there might be a fault in my wiring loom somewhere, but there cant be as the current must be finding its way down the low speed wire across my bridge and back up the high speed wire - like you say.

what are the chances of getting VW to rectify this and compensate me for my labour..... :lol:

[Henny 0]

Pickard1, chances? Slim to feck all unfortunately... :(

 

Glad that it all seems to be working (at least a little faster than it should!) If it's any consolation, this is how my after-market fan is wired up on my G60 and it doesn't half keep the running temps down to a more respectable level... ;) :lol: