Rad Fan Keeps On Running

[waveydavey]

Got up this morning to go to work and found the avant wouldn't start due to a flat battery. Without any time to investigate I took the battery out and put it on charge and went to work in the wifes car.

After work I put the now fully charged battery back on and the rad fan started running. At least this explains why a four month old battery had gone flat. Pulled out the three rad fan fuses and the fan kept running. Put them back in and pulled the rad fan relay and the fan kept running. Put that back in and pulled the rad fan delay relay and the fan stopped. This relay looked a bit overheated and there was white stuff around the mount for it so I figured the relay had burned out and put the rad fan relay in its place. The fan started running so it's not a burned out relay.

What do I need to look at next? Is it safe to drive the car around with the rad fan delay relay removed? What does it do anyway?

One small clue I have is that when I was reassembling the air filter housing earlier this week after cleaning the MAF as pushed the top down to fasten the clips the rad fan ran momentarily. Is there anything I could have shorted out underneath the filter housing?

I'd appreciate your help on this one chaps. I'm due to drive up to Scotland tomorrow morning to see my dad who is in hospital after having a heart op. I can't even begin to think that I may not be able to go.

[Mikes2]

I had this on my old S2. The fan always ran at #1 speed when ignition was off. The blue L shaped resistor inside the passenger side wing had bad contacts.

Other possibility is the afterrun switch or the afterrun control relay is faulty.

[waveydavey]

I had this on my old S2. The fan always ran at #1 speed when ignition was off. The blue L shaped resistor inside the passenger side wing had bad contacts.

Other possibility is the afterrun switch or the afterrun control relay is faulty.

Mike,

By inside the passenger wing do you mean under the bonnet near the header tank or take the wheel off and remove some plastic undershielding to get to it?

Also, where do I find the afterrun switch and relay?

Sorry to sound like such an idiot but I've only had the car a couple of months and I'm not yet up to speed with where everything is.

Managed the run up to Scotland with the rad fan delay relay removed and had no problems. It's so cold at the moment that the fan wouldn't have needed to run anyway but I'll feel happier when I get it sorted out.

[Mikes2]

Easiest way to reach it is to remove the underengine cover- it sits next to the windscreen washer bottle. You may have to loosen the wheel arch liner also.

Under the inlet manifold on the water rail there are two senders. the small 2 pin one is the afterrun sensor for the fan and aux water pump.

The relay is under the steering wheel in amongst the electrical spaghetti. It's brown with 324 stamped on the top.

[waveydavey]

Thanks Mike,

I'll have a look at it when the snow melts and I can work on the car without getting frostbite.