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Cooling Fan Problem

Featured Replies

2005 Forester. Engine cooling fan starts but will not shut off unless engine is shut off and restarted. Temperature gauge reads normal. Any ideas??

  • Author

Raised the hood when I got home. Both fans were running.

Raised the hood when I got home. Both fans were running.

I may be wrong on this, and if I am, others will chime in, but if you have Defrost or the A/C ON both fans will run.

 

Steve

The fans will also run if you have the climate on any a/c or defrost setting and sometimes if you have it on 'auto'. Also you will not see enough flucuation in the temp gauge pointer to show when the fans are coming on and off. Typically the fans come on around 202F engine coolant temp if you are stopped.

 

Now there was a recall IIRC for certain soobs of that era with the cooling fan relays having issues and fans running all the time, but I think that was even if the key was off but I forget....

I'd almost certainly say it's the fan relay sticking. Try whacking the relay box with your hand when it happens. I've seen this before on other vehicles.

  • Author
I may be wrong on this, and if I am, others will chime in, but if you have Defrost or the A/C ON both fans will run.

 

Steve

Both the A/C and the defoggers were off.

The FI coolant thermosensor wants replaced.

Is my bet

 

When it's output is out of range the ECU

defaults to running the fans

to keep the engine from overheating.

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