(G) bloody bravo!

right ive got a weird problem...

my car seems to sit at half way on the temp gauge most of the time and fan comes on lovely..

but when im stuck in traffic it goes past half way and then the fan wont come on anymore?

ive had the car head gasket failure tested..
its got a new fan switch
and a new thermostat.

im at my wits end it only seems to do it in traffic when i stuck behind another car.. i can leave the car on all day on my drive and it will sit lovely!... so i have to find a quick way out of traffic and when the temp comes down after a quick blast down the road the fan comes back on like normal

its doin me head in anyone help?

tricky problem.

its not uncommon for problems like this to be due to the relay in front of the battery tray. clean up and grease its connections.

failing that you need to get a multimeter out and next time the fan wont come on get checking to see how far power is getting, then you know whats stopping it.

i cant see a relay where abouts.. as i have a hgt?

the battery sits on the battery tray, attached to the front side of the battery tray (front as in front of car) there is a relay inside a plastic tray. it gets wet easily and tends to rust.

okies il try have a look..

everything is dry and fine in there.. i dunno what else it could be


when im in traffic the fan will come on a few times then the temp will just rise and the fan wont come on no more

just thought, do you have air con?

yep i have air con

aha i thought so! i've heard of this happening on other models with A/C, but never on a car without A/C. models with A/C have a 2 speed fan. when this problem occurs it seems to be due to the second fan speed (high speed) coming on. when that happens the fan doesnt work at all. a quick think about the way the 2 speed fan works would suggest that the problem is due to the live for the second speed shorting into the earth for the first speed, or the second speed not working when the first speed switches off. either would stop the fan.

so what can you do about it? well i havent had the chance to fix this fault myself yet, but if i was going to try it i would use a multimeter to diagnose the problem when the fan fails.

you can get the fan working on your drive, so do that and then use a multimeter to determine which wire is the live for the first speed, and which is the earth.

armed with that information go for a drive and get it in a situation where the fan stops working. then quickly pull over and test the 2 first speed wires again. one of two things can happen at this point-

1. you find that the live is still live, but the earth is now also live even when isolated (disconnect fan's live wire then test earth for current). if that is the case you know the second speed has switched on and sent power down the fan's earth, meaning a short to the earth is occuring, possibly due to a wiring fault or a relay/switch fault.

2. you find the live is no longer live. that would suggest the first speed is switched off when the second speed switches on, but the second speed is not working. that means there is a problem with the second speed's relay/switch or circuit.

i dont know enough about the 2 speed fan setup to know which situation to expect, but thats where the problem will lie and i'm sure you can figure it out armed with this knowledge.

let us know how you get on and what you find out. that way it will be easier to help others next time.

bravos fans dont have 2 speeds tho? :S

if you have aircon they do have 2 speeds, but only if you have aircon, which is why we only see this fault on models with aircon.

i havnt a clue where to look or anything... ive got my multimeter out but its only got 2 wires goin to the fan switch and next to it ive got 2 plug in things...

il get a picture hang on

yes 2 wires, one supplies the current (live) the other takes it away (earth). when the fan stops working do a test on both wires by disconnecting them from the fan and then touching the red terminal of the multimeter on a wire connector and the black terminal of the multimeter on the car's chassis (good earth). if you get 12v on both it means you have power on earth (short to earth during second speed). if you have no power on either wire it means the second speed isnt sending power (switch/relay faulty).

this is what i have.. ive the main obveos wired going to the fan switch and 2 next to it... both also go into the fan area.