Engine cooling fan. Engine cooling fan repair

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

No need to talk again about why an engine cooling fan is needed and what its malfunction is fraught with. As the name implies, its main purpose is to cool the engine while the car is moving. Quite often, this device fails, there are a lot of reasons for this, let's deal with the main points of repair.

Engine cooling fan: principle of operation

First of all, you need to figure out how this device works. Since we are dealing with a whole set of mechanisms and devices that allow heat to be removed from the engine to the environment, this is a rather complex system. In this article, we will talk about air cooling, not liquid. The fan is installed between the cylinders. It is driven by a V-belt directly from the crankshaft pulley.

The engine has special casings that allow you to direct air flows to those parts of the motor where the temperature is maximum. The motor power consumption by the fan is 8-9% of the maximum. Do not forget that it turns on and off automatically when a certain temperature is reached. For example, the VAZ-2110 engine cooling fan starts working when heated to 95 degrees Celsius and above. If this does not happen, then you need to look for the cause and eliminate it.

Troubleshooting

As practice shows, it is not always so easy to find the cause of a malfunction, as it might seem. The most common malfunction is a failure at the right time. That is, the engine has warmed up to a temperature limit of 95-99 degrees, and the device does not turn on. In this case, we need to open the hood and find the thermal switch, as a rule, it is located on the side of the radiator. It can be replaced or attempted to be repaired.

Of course, a broken thermal switch is not the worst thing that can happen. Fan motor failure is much worse. Firstly, the repair is more time-consuming, and secondly, this may not be of any use. But, first of all, you need to check the fuse of the electric motor, as it could have failed. If it's ok, then try the following. We disconnect the wires from the thermal switch and connect them together, turn on the ignition. The fan should work. Thus, the failure is not caused by the electric motor, but by the switch.

Repair Tool

So, you checked everything, went through every fuse and already reached the relay, butthe problem still hasn't been resolved. Therefore, the engine cooling fan does not work, you need to remove and repair the motor of the device. To do this, we need a minimum set of tools. We take a socket head for 10, almost everyone has one in the garage, you will also need an extension cord, medium or long.

It is desirable to have a ratchet. If one is not available, you can take the usual collar. In addition, prepare a rag, as this is a dusty job. It is better to have a flat and Phillips screwdriver on hand, as well as a set of keys. That, in principle, is all, then you can proceed directly to dismantling the device. By the way, before starting work, it is advisable to turn off the mass of the battery, that is, the "minus".

Remove the engine cooling fan

After we have the necessary tools, the machine is installed on a horizontal surface, and the ignition is turned off, we can start dismantling. First you need to completely disconnect the wires going to the fan. First of all, we pull out the motor plug, and only then the wires of the temperature sensor. Only here there is one caveat, you need to disconnect both ends, that is, from the sensor and the fan.

Next, the engine cooling fan is ready to be removed. But before that, you need to unscrew all the bolts. First, we unscrew two of them, those that are located above and below, as a result we get a free left side. As for the right one, there is only one bolt in the center. The next step: we take the fan in the center and dragon yourself, you need to get it out from under the hood without any effort.

A little about repairs

It is worth noting that the device is completely collapsible. Therefore, it must be replaced as an assembly. However, in some cases it makes sense to perform an independent repair. For example, the winding in the electric motor closed. There are even simpler problems, such as a blown fuse. Just change the part and everything will work.

It is worth noting that the engine cooling fan, the price of which is rather big today, must be periodically cleaned. After we remove it, we need to clean it from various kinds of contaminants with a brush, this can improve its performance. Since this device has several speeds, a special resistor is used through which current is supplied. There is a fuse there, which blows quite often, because of this, in fact, the fan may not turn on.

Checking the electric motor and wiring

During the operation of the car, the wires are oxidized, as a result of which the contact becomes worse. Therefore, before changing something, you need to see what condition the wires are in. Unusable immediately need to be changed or cleaned with a brush. But if the problem still remains, then you will have to check the fan motor. It's easy enough to do, now you'll learn how.

If the engine cooling fan does not turn on, then do the following manipulations. First you need to disconnect the plugswires, and then a jumper is installed between the contact of the black-red wire and the battery plus. Next, using the second jumper, we connect the brown wire terminal and the minus of the battery. After that, turn on the ignition, the fan should work. If this does not happen, then we have a faulty electric motor. In this case, you can try to repair, but it will take a long time, and it is not known what the result will be.

The motor is hot but the fan does not turn on

This is probably the most common problem. We already talked a little about this at the beginning of the article, but here we need to understand in more detail. For example, the Kalina engine cooling fan should turn on at a temperature of 99 plus or minus 2 degrees. The device should turn off at a temperature of 92 plus or minus 2 degrees. If this does not happen, for example, it turns on but does not turn off, or vice versa, then the thermal switch must be repaired or replaced.

To check if this is the case, you can try to start the engine, let it warm up to operating temperature, carefully unscrew the cap of the expansion tank and stick a thermometer in there. If the mark stops between 92 and 99 degrees, then the first speed should turn on, if at 99-105, then the device should work at the second speed. If any deviations were noticed, then most likely the fuse on the resistor burned out.

Rotor and brush repair

Sometimes it's all the fault of banal dirt. For many years the carexploited, and its systems are not cleaned. As a result, we get a malfunction. As an example, let's consider a VAZ-2110 engine cooling fan. To repair, you need to bend the motor cover and look at the general condition of the equipment. As a rule, replacement of brushes is required, which is due to the environment in which they are used. They wear out quickly, get dirty and don't do their job.

As for the rotor, there are few options. The first step is to check if the winding is working. If everything is in order, then we can rejoice, we will not have to change it. If there is an open or short circuit, then we begin to sort through each turn and look for where the problem is. You also need to clean everything from dirt, and there will be, believe me, a lot of it. To do this, you can use a brush for metal, as well as rags. Use of solvents without chemically aggressive components is allowed.

Conclusion

Summarize. We figured out how to fix the engine cooling fan. If you can’t do it yourself, then you need to go to the service, but the pleasure is not cheap, and you can be charged 5000-10000 rubles. Of course, if at least once every few years you lubricate the rubbing surfaces, clean the blades from dirt, and also change the fuses, then many problems can be avoided. Nevertheless, no one is immune from breakdowns, but now you know how most malfunctions are fixed, especially since repairing an engine cooling fan is not so difficult. All you need ismake a little effort, have the necessary tools and new parts. If you do everything yourself, you can save up to 60-80% of the funds.