Technical Weird temp activity & no fan

[Delux]

Hi Fiatistas!

I picked up another Panda 4x4 today, a 1.2 8V to add to the Fiats in the household. Thankfully I noticed it needed coolant before driving it home but I did notice the temp gauge jumping up & down with an intermittent blinking engine check light.

When in in slow traffic I didn’t notice the fan come on,even with AC running. When I arrived home the temp gauge was doing a jig at idle but no fan going. Which is weird cos I know from our 1.2 500s that the fan usually comes on, so I’m a little perplexed.

The fan is not seized. Coolant was still stable (I did bleed it before heading home) so I don’t think it’s an air lock but it’s possible.

I’ve plugged it in to my Topdon Artdiag diagnostic tool and a can read all the modules and there are only two fault codes relating to the misfire (which I expected and will be sorting ) but nothing relating to anything else. I read the live feed for the coolant temp and it was jumping up & down but the light was then red on the temp gauge which it hadn’t been on the drive over.

I think I’ll start replacing some likely culprits like the temp sensor and try bleed the system again to be sure.

No mayo is present on the oil cap.

Any ideas and how can I activate the fan to see if it’s working?

Thanks!

 

[The Panda Nut]

MES does this via the ECU I dare say you could unplg the fan and hot wire it direct to the battey to test the motor, Mes would help by giving a real temperature reading. Maybe the ballast resitor on the fan circuit is failing / failed.

 

[Delux]

MES does this via the ECU I dare say you could unplg the fan and hot wire it direct to the battey to test the motor, Mes would help by giving a real temperature reading. Maybe the ballast resitor on the fan circuit is failing / failed.

Thanks for the response. I’ll look into MES. Is the Ballast resistor a replacement part?

 

[koalar]

Activate the fans using bidirectional software

Or

Koalar random thoughts | FIAT Panda (Mk3)

You can tell if the coil pack is getting a control signal and giving a good spark like this If one is weeker and the spark does not jump as far than the others it's suspect It is possible to get a jolt if you do something wrong, probably not a good idea if you have a pace maker As long as the...

www.fiatforum.com

 

[koalar]

Check the 5V
Check the ground wire

Here's the specs

Electrical properties

°C	Ω
-20	15971
-10	9620
0	5975
10	3816
20	2502
25	2044
30	1679
40	1152
50	807
60	576
70	418
80	309
90	231
100	176

.​

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thanks for the response. I’ll look into MES. Is the Ballast resistor a replacement part?

As far as I know. I find it hard to use but try ePER. The post above should give some answers

 

[koalar]

Thanks for the response. I’ll look into MES. Is the Ballast resistor a replacement part?

Yes

It will not effect the gauge though

Gauges fluctuation is normally power or ground there are other things but much rarer

 

[Delux]

Thank you guys! I'll look into this and post my progress.

Are there wiring diagrams somewhere to download?

 

[koalar]

Why not use use scanners bidirectional control function first

 

[Delux]

@koalar where did you access that function? I can't find that on my ArtiDiag 600 S.

UPDATE - that's because my model doesn't have bidirectional control.

Going to download the free version of MES now and use a spare KL (VagCom 409) USB interface that I have to see if the fan can be actuated.

 

[Delux]

Ok, some progress. I downloaded MES and used my KKL cable and got connected. Went to Actuations found Fan 1 and Fan 2 - tried them both and heard the relay/fusebox responding but no fans...

Unplugged the fan connector and inserted multimeter, had the wife Execute the fans one by one and got 12v at the plug.

So fan must be dead. Going to order a new one up.

Misfire is cylinder three P0303 - which one is that looking at the car from front?

Interestingly I tried to actuate the Water Temp light and that failed - although it does blink on startup. Why not do you think?

I also tried the Rev Counter test and that didn't work either (but it does work) but the AC clutch works in actuation.

 

[koalar]

MultiECUscan can be buggy, as the car evolves some of the commands don't work properly

Don't order the fan yet, it's probably earth switched let me check

 

[koalar]

Timing belt side is cylinder 1
Gearbox side is cylinder 4

 

[koalar]

Right

If you have power on pin 1 you only need to check continuity to gound on pin 2 to C045

Before calling a fan

 

[Delux]

Is it bad I like good diagrams! Thank you @koalar - I’ll check those grounds.

 

[Delux]

Is there a removable radiator fan switch in that shroud?

 

[koalar]

No

Fans are computer controlled

Using information from

Coolant sensor
Aircon pressure sensor

One fan, one resistor module for the two speeds, two relays and two fuses

Cars without aircon generally only have one speed


There's at least half a dozen different slight verifications LPG, dualogic and so on



Thought you had already test voltage switching on and off at the fan, but it's not spinning,

I'd have put a test light on the two pin and activate it on and off, it would prove the power and earth is okay and the wires was able to carry to current, if the lights work and the fan doesn't, I'd be taking the fan off


I would test double test the fan off the car by applying voltage to it before ordering


I don't apply voltage to an unknown circuit, especially not current limited in the vehicle, there's a small chance if it faulty of causing a fire,

 

[Delux]

Update: applied 12v directly to the fan with ground to battery - fan worked.

Removed all the conduit to expose the wires and I traced the ground to the chassis rail, removed it and cleaned with sandpaper. That ground wire takes a nasty 90º turn that's left a good kink in the wire, so I may cut it out and ground to the cluster on the battery.

Reconnected the fan plug and started the car with AC on full. Fan came on after about a minute.

Good I thought. Better test it again. Waited a few minutes while I packed away tools & gubbins.

Started up a second time, waited about 5 minutes on idle with AC on full. No fan...

Going to try actuate it with MES after work.

 

[Delux]

Tried to actuate the fan with MES and nada. Then I tried again and as I heard the relay click I gave the fan a little nudge… it started to spin but like a wheel that needed oiling!

New fan ordered! Hopefully that will be that. Update to follow.

 

[Delux]

Update - fitted a new fan and actually used the car today after doing some other gubbins.

All seemed well until car lost power.

Fan working, coolant level good, heater pumping. So in my mind thermostat is working and coolant is circulating.

Car smelt like it was overheating…

Why power loss?