General Radiator fan on for few minutes after ignition turned off

[peter212693]

Hi all,

A friend of mine has a 02 plate punto and recently when he stops and gets out of the car, ignition off, the radiator fan stays on for a minute or 2. Is this normal? Or anyone else had this problem?

Thanks all

 

[r.i.c.h.]

It is normal, it switches off when the engine has cooled

 

[m_aver_ick]

have you check your coolant?

 

[FIREsporting]

It' normal mate

 

[m_aver_ick]

the only time it happens with me is when my coolant is low (because i have a few leaks)

i dont think its normal , unless hes stopped the car for 5 mins with the engine running before getting out...

 

[Mdeko]

If the fan is running (or happens to turn on as you turn they key off) the fan will run until the temperature lowers (if i remember right it has to be below 90'c)

Thats perfectly normal - my punto has done this from brand new

 

[m_aver_ick]

sooo apart from my leaks will there be something wrong with mine, or is it just hot where you guyz live???

my fan does work...

 

[Mdeko]

Yours sounds normal, as long as the fan does work (i.e. when u leave it ldleing).

my fan hasnt come on all winter but in the summer i only have to stop for a couple of minutes in traffic or whatever and the fan will come on.

 

[alexGS]

It is correct behaviour as others already said.

'Several minutes' is rather long - I would say 30 seconds would be more 'normal'. However you have to remember that the fan on later Puntos is triggered by the engine management and therefore by a temp sensor on the engine. With the engine stopped, there is no coolant circulating, so as the radiator cools down, the heat has to convect from the engine to the radiator. It's fair to expect this convection to take some time.

On older cars, the radiator fan temperature switch was on the radiator itself - therefore, as the radiator cooled, the fan would switch off. This would usually happen quite quickly.

It never hurts to check the level of the coolant, check that it's green (or pink depending on type, but never just water), and it should not need topping up more than once every few months. I think a few people out there are regularly topping-up not realising that it shouldn't be necessary.

-Alex

 

[Mdeko]

Last filled mine up in august when it had a service, it was slightly above the max mark when it was filled, and now its about 3/4 full. . does that sound about normal?

 

[FIREsporting]

sooo apart from my leaks will there be something wrong with mine, or is it just hot where you guyz live???

my fan does work...

Buy some (bars leaks) it can stops cooling system leaks

 

[peter212693]

Thanks for the replays guys, we topped it up around 3 months ago as it was really low. Tonight having another look after it has been overheating there is protty much no coolant in the rad. So we top it up and run it for a for mins and it heats up very quick and when you open the rad cap the water just spits out a hell of a lot.

Does this sound like a water pump failure?

Thanks

 

[m_aver_ick]

where is the coolant going are there any leaks you can see, or puddles on the ground, even go for a quick run then take off cap then leave for bout a half hour so see if theres any

(removing the cap alloes the coolant to leak faster)

 

[JTD_Liam]

Id say the key is that the original post said 'recently' in it, implying the fan hasnt always stayed on for this length of time.

I would combine the fan on after ignition swiched off, high use of coolant & heating up quickly, with the fact that it's a 1.2 & say that the head gasket couldve gone or be going.

Is it an 8 valve 1.2? These seem to suffer more than the 16v with head gasket problems. Being an 02 reg it should have a temperature guage rather than just the 'too late' light of the earlier base models, so it could be worth asking ur mate if the guage has gone over half way at any point - ive never seen a Mark 2 Punto go beyond the half way point unless there's something wrong.

But yeh, headgasket problem is my main guess, possibly other coolant system problem such as split hose or failed water pump, but either way, get it to a decent garage or mechanic sooner rather than later to avoid further damage to the engine.

 

[JTD_Liam]

My apologies, just noted that the engine type hasnt been mentioned, is it a 1.2? 8 or 16 valve model?