Econetic cooling fan concerns

[stephenrhys1955]

Been having some strange behavior from my cooling fan on my Econetic since the car was new, it's had me a bit worried. With the lack of a temperature gauge It was a bit disconcerting to say the least when the engine cooling fan cut in during normal driving. It ran for a long time when on the flat at 30mph and continued to run for a good five minutes on the drive after switching off. I think I might have the answer with this photo I found posted on the Ford owners club site.

BS-CEw2kKGrHqQOKnUEvyFrmUBMM3e5Rjg_.jpg (39.24 KiB) Viewed 16377 times

Seems to me like the large front cross-member is blocking the airflow to at least half of the radiator so under certain conditions the fan has to run to get airflow. This combined with the heat generated when the DPF regenerates can make you believe the car is on the point of overheating. There is a warning to not park over fallen leaves because of a fire hazard in the handbook! A warning about the cooling fan's behavior would have been useful, would have saved me taking it into the dealer twice to get it checked out!

[jam_rs]

Cant say ive heard anyone else saying about this yet. What exactly did the dealer say?

If it gets too hot a light will warning will flash up.


And you say about the dpf getting very hot when regenerating, yep, deffinately gotta be carefull where you park!

[stephenrhys1955]

[quote="jam_rs"]Cant say ive heard anyone else saying about this yet. What exactly did the dealer say?

I think the dealer has done things right, probably checked the operation of the fan and put the car on the computer. Twice they have looked at it with the same outcome, no fault found. The point I wanted to make in my first post was that because of the design of this car the fan behaves in what I thought at the time to be an inappropriate way.


As regards this DPF, do FMC really expect the owners of vehicles fitted with this device to clear leaves from parking spaces. How do you know when this regeneration is about to take place? There's no warning light or indication of any sort.

[Ben...]

My fan comes on a lot, sometimes even if I've moved the car about 5 meters

I went shopping a couple of months back and parked in a multi story car park, and I came back to my car and the battery was flat

I called AA, even though I knew it was just a flat and could of bump started it, because I knew I didn't leave any lights on or anything

So he plugged his machine in and a fault came up with the cooling fan

I took it to Ford and they sorted it, it was a faulty relay, they seemed to know straight away and hinted that it had happened before to other cars

They just ordered me a new relay and fitted it in about 2 mins

[StewartM]

I think there is more to the Fiesta cooling fan than Ford are letting on.

Mine is petrol, so no DPF issues. I noted that when my air-con was on the fan ran almost constantly, whereas on a Volvo S40 I had the fan cycled on and off more or less in time with the compressor clutching in and out.

I had an incident in the depth of winter when the fan tried to start when unbeknown to me there was a large chunk of frozen snow wrapped round it. The fan motor burned out before the fuse blew.

I told the dealer exactly what happened, was prepared to write it off as a freak of extreme weather but they replaced the fan assembly under warranty.

The new one cycles a lot more than the old one did.

Stewart.

[stephenrhys1955]

[quote="StewartM"]I think there is more to the Fiesta cooling fan than Ford are letting on.

I think you're right Stewart, I was working in the main dealer when electric fans and those awful viscous fans came in. The whole point of them was to save fuel, a traditional cooling fan takes about 5 HP to turn. An electric fan is also loading up the alternator when it runs which takes power IE fuel.
My opinion is that this is a poor design, it's on the very edge of causing a problem. If you had not noticed your fan burnt out you could have had major problems with overheating. I wonder how you would have fared with warranty if you'd done a head gasket or seized the engine.

[stephenrhys1955]

[quote="Ben..."]My fan comes on a lot, sometimes even if I've moved the car about 5 meters

I went shopping a couple of months back and parked in a multi story car park, and I came back to my car and the battery was flat

I remember Vaxhall had a similar problem with heated screen relays years ago. Owners thought space aliens were landing at night and steeling all the lectric out of their cars. LOL. It's a sad fact that if a manufacturer can save a few bob on a cheaper part they will. I've worked in factories where relays switch on and off every 12 seconds 24/7. they last for years and years because they were QUALITY

[stephenrhys1955]

I spoke to a workmate last night who's son has a Mk7. Guess what, he's had his fan flatten his battery just last week. The dealer has changed the relay for him .

[8woodj]

I too have noticed this problem and like you say with no temp guage it can be a bit concerning. The last time it happened to me was several weeks ago when the outside temp was -5C. At least the problem appears to be recognised by Ford and as the car is due a service in a few time I will mention it and see if they replace the relay

[mbul74]

I had this problem today - was able to point the AA man in the right direction, and he confirmed, yes, it was a sticky fan relay. He also pointed out that maybe the aircon being on when the engine was switched off may be an issue.