1.8 - Cooling fan inoperative?

[Steve1966]

I've had a search and a read but if someone could just confirm my thoughts please.

2000 car so 3 speed fan (no resistor evident).
Fan does not kick in when demist button pressed (it has for the last 6 years upto now).
I've checked fuse 4 (80A) which looks fine.
I removed the Trinary switch plug and shorted out the wires furthest apart (yellow and grey?). Nothing happens whether demist switched on or not and with engine running or not (ignition on). When replacing the plug the compressor can be heard kicking in.

So, am I to believe my fan motor has failed? Is the only fix replacement (ie Jule's 2 speed fan kit?)

I use the M6 everyday which at these low temps is fine but traffic jams are regular so not ideal to have inoperative fan especially in a 1.8.

Steve.

[Arctic]

Hi Steve
From reading you above account of checking the fan using the demist button you three wire two speed fan seems to have failed on the low speed.

These fans can be re-brushed and repaired but it is an intrusive job, bumper off, crash bar off, slam panel off including lights, then you would need to remove the fan open up the motor and check the brushes and the board.

Sometimes they can be badly damage and not repairable but you will not know this until the fan is off and the motor opened up.

Brushes can be obtained from the link below kindly introduced by Simon.
www.engineeringcarbonproducts.com

If you wanted take the chance and wait until March and come to the nano meet we could take a look for you, at the same time I would have a spare fan to fit if we needed to, as I carry one of each for our cars, 1.8 2.0 2.5 and diesel fan, all re-brushed and motors checked, in some cases with gold resistors.

Lots of info on fan from the past click the link cheers Arctic

https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/s...rchid=13122927

[SD1too]

Originally Posted by Steve1966

2000 car so 3 speed fan (no resistor evident).

Hello Steve,

All 1.8 engines had a 2 speed fan and as Arctic says, yours has most likely suffered nothing more than a worn out motor brush. If you're DIY minded you can fit a new one very inexpensively.

As you acknowledge, you are running a risk by using a 1.8 without a working radiator fan, even in the winter. I'd arrange for a repair sooner rather than later if I were you.

Simon

[Steve1966]

Originally Posted by SD1too

Hello Steve,

All 1.8 engines had a 2 speed fan and as Arctic says, yours has most likely suffered nothing more than a worn out motor brush. If you're DIY minded you can fit a new one very inexpensively.

As you acknowledge, you are running a risk by using a 1.8 without a working radiator fan, even in the winter. I'd arrange for a repair sooner rather than later if I were you.

Simon

Thank you Simon. I was confused by Arctic's statement about 2 speed fan. It wasn't clear from all the reading I did that all 1.8s were 2 speed. He states it looks like it's failed on low speed but do the other checks I did with the switch plug suggest it has failed completely?

Steve.

[SD1too]

Originally Posted by Steve1966

He states it looks like it's failed on low speed but do the other checks I did with the switch plug suggest it has failed completely?

Well Steve, your car first registered in the year 2000 is clearly an early one. It is therefore likely to have the original 2 speed fan circuit which does not use a resistor as you have noticed.

Pressing the demist button and getting no response from the fan motor shows that the slow speed has failed.

The trinary switch test will determine whether the faster speed is working. You need to join together the yellow/slate and black wires on pins 3 and 2 which are opposite one another as you correctly say. However, be careful because also opposite one another are another black wire and a slate/yellow wire. It's easy to choose the wrong pair. You want the yellow wire with the slate (grey) tracer. It might be worth checking this.

Whatever the outcome, as you say that the motor has only recently failed it is unlikely to have suffered any serious damage and can almost certainly be revived with a new set of brushes which will cost you peanuts.

Simon

[murphyv310]

To aid cooling in the meantime especially in traffic, keep the heater on the hottest setting and put the heater fan on full blast, this will help to keep the engine cool, also set the diagnostics to read engine temperature to keep you better informed than the silly gauge.

[Steve1966]

Originally Posted by Arctic

Brushes can be obtained from the link below kindly introduced by Simon.
www.engineeringcarbonproducts.com

Hi Arctic, the link above mentions brushes for 3 speed fans (set of 4). Are these suitable for the 2 speed fan? It isn't clear from their web page.

Many thanks
Steve.

[Arctic]

Hi Steve.
yes those are the ones you need, hopefully when you open your fan motor it will not be damaged or burnt out as some I have seen.

Brushes you will need the 4 even though maybe only 2 may be worn down.
1

Your car will look like this with the front off.
2

Fan like this once off the car 3 wires
3

Hopefully when you have removed the fan motor plate the board will be clean and not scorched.
4

Then when you lift the board off to reveal the brushes they will look something like this.
5

6

7

8

You then cut the brushes off close to them for the new ones to be soldered on.
9

Then put the fan back together Arctic.

[Steve1966]

Update: Partly due to not fancying working out in the cold for a few hours, and also because I'm away in the Lake District at the time of the next Nano meet I decided to take my car to Jules to get his fan kit fitted (after I'd already bought new brushes..). The probable cause of the inoperative fan (both speeds) was a broken wire (the thickest one) near to the plug just in front of the NSF wheel. One of the thin wires was also damaged. There was evidence of green copper residue/corrosion in the vicinity so had been slowly failing for a good while. I asked Jules to fit his fan kit anyway so I can relax for the remaining life of the car hopefully.

Steve.