Overheating - radiator fan fixed!

[John D]

In case anyone is suffering overheating on their Punto (mine's a Mk2, but maybe same motor design on others) I've found that the Valeo motor is of a design that has holes allowing dust etc. to enter the motor. In my case this caused the motor brushes to stick in their holders, preventing the motor from starting when it needs to. Although the motor is not designed to be opened for repair, it is fairly easy to do so with a hammer and punch to knock-back the crimped 'bits' that hold the end cap of the motor on. With this removed (and yes, the fan and its assembly have to be removed from the car first!), it's just a matter of cleaning up the brushes and motor commutator and making sure the brushes move freely in their runners, and that the crud from between the commutator segments that the brushes run on is removed (a small wire brush does the trick). End cap back on, and the 'bits' crimped back over again - job done.

Took me a while to work out this was the problem after checking temp sensor, fuses, relays, etc. If I'd just gone for the 'moving part, of the system first (like my Dad always told me!) I'd had found the problem months ago.

 

[sludgeguts]

I had one like that, fuse OK so put 12v across the fan & nothing, cleaned all the crud & right as rain. Problem came back about a year later so I simply squirted shedloads of WD40 through all the holes in the casing & gave it a gentle tap. I wrote it down in my book to look at as part of the service but got rid of the car soon after anyway.
If you do your own service, it's a worthwhile thing to do anyway, just add a note to your service sheet.