overheating in traffic

[dublint5]

The car decided to overheat when in traffic tonight to the point temp gauge in red steam coming out of expansion tank

Pulled over let her cool down and topped up water took her for a spin away from traffic and temp gauge stayed im middle no matter how fast it was driven even using kick down just stayed in midddle

had to go back in traffic within a few mins overheating again

to dark to see if fan is coming on so will check tommorrow what else should i check

as i say only happens when in traffic nomal driving its fine

any ideas


dublin

[wegal]

cooling fan

[chris yeatman]

sounds like cooling fan bud. have it got air con, the fan should also work wen u switch that on.

[dublint5]

drove car yesterday car seems fine but was not stuck in traffic

left car running this morning for a half an hour fan only came on once for about 3 sec and went off if i bypass relay fan runs fine all the time the is power going into relay

is the any way of checking and making sure it is the relay that is faulty before i go and spend E60 on a new one

is the any other sensor i should look at as well




dublin t5

[timbo_1975]

Fan is a two speeder.

Thick red wire supplies power all the time to the relay.

The larger two pin connector takes power to the fan motor, one of which through a resistor for slow speed. The black wire on the fan cowl is earth from the motor.

The two pin connector with the two thin wires go to the ECU which EARTHS them for low and high speed.

Either the relay or the motor is the problem.

ECU will switch to high speed if it sees coolant temp rise above ~108 deg C. A/C will turn off.

Low speed comes on with A/C or over ~104 deg C.

Hope this helps.

Tim.

[neevo]

Next time you are in traffic turn the interior heater on full temp, full blast and open a window, it worked on a few of my old cars when things went wrong and I never had to stop to let them cool off!

Not the answer you was after but at least it's a cheap solution for now ;)

[dublint5]

If i bypass the relay and and put a wire between the 2 red wires the fan runes fine so thinking it has to be the relay wondering if i can use any other relay

does the yellow wire send a volt to swith relay on

[dublint5]

how do i check if relay is getting signal to swith power

[daveforber]

Erm, check the fuse first before doing any jiggery-pokery with wires :D

[flying brick]

same happened to my car ,i changed the thermostat and its fine now,it could also be an air lock,start up car when cold with the expansion tank lid off ,and rev up a few times and watch for the water overflowing if it does leave running till it stops overflowing then the air lock has cleared,then top up tank,and it should be fine

[dublint5]

well thats the overheating sorted out really simple all it took was

1 new coolant temp sensor 39euro
1 new cooling fan relay 49euro
1 new cooling fan 382euro
2 weekends lost work

oh my wallet hurts

reckon i have now spent more fixing car then i paid for it and still hace not fixed suspension