Radiator fan running all the time.
 

A good friend has caught the Rover bug from me after all these years and has purchased an '04 Mk 2 diesel auto in lovely Firefrost . It needs a couple of the usual jobs doing such as loose door cards and an intermittent airbag light which we can sort out, however I noticed as part of checking the air con ,which is nice and cold, the radiator fan is running whether econ is on or off. It switches off when the engine is turned off but takes about 5 seconds to eventually stop. Along with a faulty thermostat it's causing the temp gauge to barely leave the blue section. The thermostat is going to be replaced next week but any idea's where to start re the fan ? I've been unable to see through the grille to see if it's a 3 speed or 2 speed with resistor if this makes any difference. :shrug:

Hello Pete. A diesel showing the fan symptoms you describe is pretty common and suggests to me that the printed circuit board (in the control box) is failing. The boards are unique to the diesel system and are a known focal point for fan troubles. There are lots of threads on this specific issue and the name of FrenchMike pops up as a mister fixit. Worth doing a thread search.


TC

Hello Pete,

It's certainly true that we've had a number of cases of diesel PCB failure but, if my memory serves me correctly, this causes the fan to not stop running at all (as opposed to the 5 seconds after 'ignition off' that you're experiencing). I do remember more than one member reporting that they had to disconnect the battery to stop it!

So before you consider removing the PCB to send to FrenchMike, I'd suggest having a look at the NS inner wing edge where a loom passes over it. Broken or short circuiting wires here have been found to be responsible for unusual electrical faults and for some inexplicable reason it only seems to happen on the diesel.

Something else which we should not overlook is extreme bodgery. Zickleer has exactly the same symptoms as you do Pete, but on a KV6. It's a thread which is worth reading if only to see how bad things can get when aftermarket parts are fitted by people who shouldn't be working on cars. :o

Simon

Thank you for the replies . I’ll check out the wiring with him first. He bought it it from a dealer on Tuesday it but they are a couple of hundred miles away and would rather have a look himself first. I’ve never had this issue with my two diesels but I am wondering if a bodger has been at work?

Thanks

Peter

That other post is a bit of an eye opener. :eek: Some good tips for when I get a chance to look at his car next week.

Thanks Pete. It will be interesting to know what you find.

Simon

A follow up to this post . Back in the summer we pulled off the front bumper to have a look at the wiring in case there was any evidence of a bodge but nothing could be seen and the control box didn't look as if it had been disturbed. Not wanting to go any further my mate said just to box it back up and we'll look out for a 2 speed unit when we can.

This week a fan unit with a gold resister mod already fitted came up on Ebay for £80 so he ordered it and it arrived today marked up as tested so off came the bumper and we got stuck in dismantling and swapped it over. However when we tried it loosely fitted it didn't work with the bumper off and aircon on. A closer look and the aircon compressor wasn't working either ! By this point we were running out of light so decided to just fit the new fan and put it back together to sort another day. Any how I sat in the car with the engine running pressing the econ button on and off whilst the temp was set to 16 degrees on the panel and still no air con or fan but the penny dropped and I pressed the button for the fast screen demist and the fan kicked it and the air con compressor too ! :icon_redface: so now all appears to work as it should.

Just need to replace his saggy intercooler O rings that we noticed today and that's his list of jobs done for the time being.

Officially it's press ECON or press AUTO, a toggling action if you like. I know that deselecting ECON so that neither it nor the AUTO button is illuminated has been mentioned on the forum but it's not an official mode and the result is unpredictable.

Since selecting AUTO is not guaranteed to run the air conditioning either, using the windscreen demist is, as you said, the preferred method.

Simon

Pete, make sure it doesn't have a Freelander ECM fitted ;)

Brian :D

If I tell him something else is wrong with the car Brian , he'll have another stroke !!

It's all working fine now so he's happy with his Frosty look a like :icon_lol: