General Marea 2 litre overheating/fan not working

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General Marea 2 litre overheating/fan not working

marts600

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Hi,

Hope someone can help. My 1997 2 litre 20 valve has lost its cool. Air con doesn't work. Light comes on and interior fan, but engine revs do not increase and it doesn't blow out nice cold air. Also I am sure when it did work the radiator fan came on as well. Now it doesn't at all. The fan doesn't come on either when car gets hot which is a bit of a problem in traffic. Have had the fan checked and its ok. Electrician told me to replace the rad switch which i have (twice) but it still doesn't work.

Have noticed a squeaking noise, worse when cold, coming from either the alternator pulley, or aircon pulley. Car has done 57,000 miles and is 1997 model.
 
bulldog5046 said:
have you checked the coolent level? on my uno it overheated and i thought the fan had packed in, turned out the coolent level was low and once topped up it was fine!

Coolant level is fine, car doesn't use water. Fuses are fine, relays are fine. Fan works if put a lead direct to the battery. Thanks anyway.
 
Hi, will check that. Have just got an email from a fiat specialist who advertises on ebay and he told me to replace the relays near the battery case as this is usually the problem. Should keep me away from the decorating tomorrow. Cheers/Martin

PS. Anyone reading this who got a brava or marea and recently had a rear exhaust fitted, make sure they haven't bent the exhaust heat shield onto the brake pipe. This happened to me and it wore through the brake pipe. It's an absolute prat to replace. Also while your under there check all the pipes for rust and give them a good grease.
 
Does the fan work at all? Marea's with Aircon have two fan speeds. The lower fan speed, from memory is activated at about 90-94 degrees, and the higher at 95+ (could be a few degrees out from memory...).
Anyway, mine was not working on the low speed setting ,so changed the radiator mounted temperature "switch", and the relay, and eventually found the culprit to be the resistor for low speed fan operation, which you will find mouted in the lower right (drivers side) section of the plastic fan body.
It costs about 20 pounds, and reactivated the low speed fan perfectly.

Mine is on it's second replacment (in 9 years)...
 
Marea147 said:
Does the fan work at all? Marea's with Aircon have two fan speeds. The lower fan speed, from memory is activated at about 90-94 degrees, and the higher at 95+ (could be a few degrees out from memory...).
Anyway, mine was not working on the low speed setting ,so changed the radiator mounted temperature "switch", and the relay, and eventually found the culprit to be the resistor for low speed fan operation, which you will find mouted in the lower right (drivers side) section of the plastic fan body.
It costs about 20 pounds, and reactivated the low speed fan perfectly.

Mine is on it's second replacment (in 9 years)...

I may try that thank you. All depends now what am really going to do with the car. I replaced the rad switch which made no difference and the aircon doesn't work either. Have got the fan wired so it comes on all the time now to avoid overheating. Oil in the water is my main concern but car still runs ok and doesn't appear to be using much water and not using any oil. May clean the system out and try some rad seal and see if that cures it. Been a long time since i did a head gasket on a car and to put it into a garage is just not worth the money. Been quoted more than £600 to repair gasket and do cam belt, water pump etc. Car is only worth £500 as part ex
 
Marea147 said:
Does the fan work at all? Marea's with Aircon have two fan speeds. The lower fan speed, from memory is activated at about 90-94 degrees, and the higher at 95+ (could be a few degrees out from memory...).
Anyway, mine was not working on the low speed setting ,so changed the radiator mounted temperature "switch", and the relay, and eventually found the culprit to be the resistor for low speed fan operation, which you will find mouted in the lower right (drivers side) section of the plastic fan body.
It costs about 20 pounds, and reactivated the low speed fan perfectly.

Mine is on it's second replacment (in 9 years)...

I may try that thank you. All depends now what am really going to do with the car. I replaced the rad switch which made no difference and the aircon doesn't work either. Have got the fan wired so it comes on all the time now to avoid overheating. Oil in the water is my main concern but car still runs ok and doesn't appear to be using much water and not using any oil. May clean the system out and try some rad seal and see if that cures it. Been a long time since i did a head gasket on a car and to put it into a garage is just not worth the money. Been quoted more than £600 to repair gasket and do cam belt, water pump etc. Car is only worth £500 as part ex
 
Hi! I have got the same problem (happened yesterday). My car is the 1.6 version but the symptoms fit yours exactly. Squeak is coming from the AC unit.

If you find the fault let me know and I will do the same.

Regards

John
 
Hi John,

Still not found the problem yet but what i have done is wired the fan so its on all the time. If yours is wired the same as mine with a 3 point terminal to the rad switch connect the blue/yellow wire to the negative side of the battery or any good earth. I have checked the feed in and its ok. The blue/yellow wire I assume goes to the fan and don't know what the third wire is for. I assume its a feed from the aircon to switch the fan on at same time but seeing as my aircon no longer works i can't check it out. Brakes seem very low on efficiency as well. Been like that after car was laid up for 10 months. It passed its mot ok, although efficiency on bck brakes only just passed. All discs and pads were replaced the year before and were stripped and cleaned for mot.

Martin
 
Martin,

Thanks for the update! I had the fan off yesterday and noticed the sensor connection was loose. I have fixed that now but still no joy. I am not sure if the fault is intermittent. I checked the power going to the fan and everything seemed OK. Since putting it back together again it has not gone over midway on the temperature gauge but still no fan. I have been pushing it pretty hard to get the temp up too!

I am hoping to get under the bonnet again this weekend but since I have been away for the past two weeks I reckon the missus will want me under hers first :)

If I get chance to play (with the car) I will let you know of any progress.

Regards

John
 
I have checked the workshop manual, and after a request for aircon, then climate controller gives out a signal. If this is on, and there is sufficient gas pressure (pressure switch is located on top of the reciever drier, behind the passenger side fog lamp).

If all this is ok, then it activates the radiator fan's first speed (via the load resistor fitted to the fan body).

If any of the above does not work, then the aircon will not function.

So take the resistor out, and check that it is not all burnt and brown.
 
marea 147

on my 1800elx marea, had aircon gas recharged, the compressers runs ok but the engine rad fan does not come on.
so it maybe u r wrong in thinking that it needs engine cooling fan to work before air con compressors runs (just an idea)

i believe my engine fan also does not come on, mrs came back in car (10ml rip) fan not runing, so left engine on for 5-8 mins still fan will not run.
checked main supply to fan ok, checked the relays in box by battery both operate (tested by removing then and putting voltage across 86, 87, lugs think thats the nos)
now trying to work out why these two relays will not operate in situ in car.
going to try to go though wiring diagrams tomorrow, but on hols soon so may have to wait

think i will set up switch to run fan all the time engine on
 
there seems to be one or two of you worrying about fan not working and unless your temp gauge goes well up above half way or water is boiling over why worry . The other day it was 26deg I had been out for a lookabout came back let the engine run and it was 15mins before fans came on so unless it is hot enough they wont work.

Bill
 
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