Fiat punto engine fan not working

[MMiskin]

I have a "Y" reg fiat Punto. The engine fan doesn't work. It has worked intermittantly in the past, but the car has overheated on several occassions (including during an MOT test!).

The fact that it does sometimes seem to work (pushing it with a stick to get it moving has at times got it going) leads me to think it's not the belt.

I currently drive with heating on full blast to stop the engine overheating, which works so long as i'm not in traffic on a hot day! I did ask a garage to look into it once, but they claimed it was working fine.

Any advice would be appreciated, as I never dare drive the car any distance for fear of getting stuck in a traffic jam and overheating! No temperature guauge means I have no way of knowing I'm overheating till it's too late!

 

[maddogmorg]

it's likely to be either the connections, if it's temperamental or the temp sender. don't know where the sender is but if you bridge it the fan should come on. if it doesn't then this isn't the problem, but this is the best place to start.

 

[5abr3]

If it starts after a bit of a prod then I would blame the fan itself and try getting one from a scrapyard if it isn't a bad connection.

 

[T14086]

get a new cooling fan if thats the problem, i'd be wary of scrapyard one as its likely to be faulty as its common problem......you know its a common fault when dealers keep that part in stock!

 

[Chris@souls]

get a new cooling fan if thats the problem, i'd be wary of scrapyard one as its likely to be faulty as its common problem......you know its a common fault when dealers keep that part in stock!

Yup

 

[MMiskin]

Thanks for the advice. My neighbour who's a car mechanic took a look at it - he put some wires together and got it going - but seemed to think the motor for the fan was lazy. He's said it could be wired to come on as soon as the engine starts and only turn off when I turn the engine off. Is this a good idea?