2004 Outback - Cycling of Cooling Fans

[onangaf]

I need some info from other Outback owners.

I have a 2004 Outback 4cyl. w/ 7,500 miles on it (not even broken in yet).

When I turn on the air conditioner or turn knob to a defrost setting, the (2)

cooling fans under the hood behind the radiator start to cycle ON and OFF

every 12 seconds. These fans will cycle ON / OFF all day long with the air

conditioner on or with the defrost setting on. It does not matter what the

temperature is outside or if the car is warmed up or not, the fans will cycle

ON /OFF all day long or until car runs out of gas.

 

Does anyone know if these fans should be cycling ON and OFF like this every 12

seconds, it seems a bit much, do any of you have this constant fan cycling every

12 seconds?

 

I've taken the car to the dealer twice now to have this looked at, but I don't know

if they just don't understand what I'm telling them or what. The 1st time to the dealer they told me I needed to bring car back when the outside temperature

was 70 degrees or higher (it was in the mid 60's that day). I took it to the dealer

today (76 degrees outside) They called me told me my car was ready and that the

air conditioner was working fine. So I got in my car started it up turned on the

air conditioner and sure enough the fans started cycling every 12 seconds.

I guess all they did was check to see if the air conditioner was working (which it always has worked fine) it's the fans cycling every 12 seconds that's the problem

or at least it seems like a problem to me.

 

So that is why I need some help from others so that I can tell if these constant

cycling fans are a problem or if everyone's Outback does that and that is what they are supposed to do. By the way I asked the mechanic straight up if the fans

should cycle every 12 seconds, but he could not give me a straight answer, he just stated that the fans will come on when they need to.

 

If anyone has any info on this matter I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

[Jim Davis]

My '03 H6 Outback Wagon does it. Normal I think.

[mrk610]

NORMAL, My 02 outback does the same thing . Every time the ac compresser

cycles on it turns on the fans and when it cycles off the fans go off. Your defrost mode is automaticly set to turn on the ac to dry the air .

 

Mike

[onangaf]

My '03 H6 Outback Wagon does it. Normal I think.

 

Thanks for the reply Jim.

This is really frustrating for me. I can not get a straight answer from my dealer and I can not find a way to contact SOA to get an answer.

I guess it's better for the fans to come on to much rather than not at all.

My concern is that a sensor may be bad or that the freeon level may be

low causing the system to go into a fail safe mode where the fans just

run constantly all the time every 12 seconds in my case, and with so much

cycling on and off you know the fans will wear out sooner than they should

or a switch will burn out or something else bad. Also the fans seem to take

some power from the engine which means the engine has to work harder and

use more gas. I just wish I knew if this was "normal" or not.

Well at least I'm not alone.

[jcase321]

This is totally normal. The fans cycle on automatically with the AC and Defrost ( which uses the AC compressor). It is done as a precaution to make sure that the engine NEVER gets to hot and that cooling with occurr regardless of temperature outside. Then any other time the cooling fans with only usually run one at a time when the engine is idling a long time or if after you come off the freeway for example then come to a stop, ocasionally the fan or fans will cylce on for additional cooling because of the sudden drop in air flow from the freeway...

[onangaf]

This is totally normal. The fans cycle on automatically with the AC and Defrost ( which uses the AC compressor). It is done as a precaution to make sure that the engine NEVER gets to hot and that cooling with occurr regardless of temperature outside. Then any other time the cooling fans with only usually run one at a time when the engine is idling a long time or if after you come off the freeway for example then come to a stop, ocasionally the fan or fans will cylce on for additional cooling because of the sudden drop in air flow from the freeway...

 

But should they cycle on "every 12 seconds" "all the time" whenever AC or

Defrost is on. It's the every 12 seconds thats bothering me. I could see maybe every minute or two the fans and/or the air compressor cycling on/off, but every 12 seconds seems to much, especially because of the performance hit the car suffers whenever the fans and/or air compressor is cycling on/off. Both my fans will cycle every 12 seconds "all the time" for however long I let the car idle at a stopped condition w/ the AC or defrost on. Thanks for your reply jcase.

[friendly_jacek]

Is this your first car with AC?

[onangaf]

Is this your first car with AC?

No, why do you ask that? My other cars AC compressors would cycle

on during HOT days, but no where near the frequency of every 12 seconds.

Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Toyota Celica, VW Jetta, Mitsu. Montero,

Ford Taurus, Jeep Cherokee, none of these autos AC compressors (fans)

cycled on/off like my new subie.

 

For peace of mind I need to go to the Subaru dealer and test drive a new

Outback and check to see if it's fans cycle ON/OFF "every 12 seconds"

like mine does, if so, I'll feel better knowing mine isn't broken.

( I have no way of knowing if the cycling every 12 seconds is what it should be doing or not, and my dealer can not give me an answer, so that is why I turn to the forum for help.)