lsiravi

This has been happening for almost a year now. I thought I'd stated the problem here and understood 'it's a feature' but when I look through my posts I don't see it at all, ergo must be in my head.

Here's the problem: Irrespective of how long a drive I go on (and whether the engine is truly HOT or just warm), the radiator(?) fan turns on after I turn off the ignition (goes off when I turn on ignition again). It stays on for some 10 minutes and then turns itself off. It hasn't caused any major problems, although I expect it is a drain on the battery.

When I took it to the dealer to get the airbag-recall handled, I brought it up with them and they said "it's a feature", but I'm not really sure it is.

Anyone have a clue what could be wrong?
Electrical system issue?
Engine heat? (the temp guage never shows a high temp)
Normal?
Feature - as the dealer said?

TIA
lsiravi

TacoBello

Just stop the fan blade from spinning with your hand

No, but really, I think that is normal. I wouldn't worry about it.

lsiravi

Oh, super! Somehow, I don't think I hadn't noticed it until a year ago - have had the car for 3 now. Ignorance is bliss - when I didn't know that happened, I hadn't noticed it for 2 years. Now, in the past year, that's the one thing that slaps at me every time I turn the ignition off

thoiboi

Maybe your temp sensor is out of whack ?

lsiravi

When I said : " the temp guage never shows a high temp"

I didn't mean it is stuck at 0. It does move up and down. Never red-zones.

thoiboi

Which fan though? Drivers side or passenger?

TacoBello

I believe on older cars, this was completely normal. Once you shut the engine off, the cooling system stop working. But your engine is still at it's operating temperature. And if it's warm out, and your engine is at it's peak operating temp, and the coolant isn't flowing...

I remember cars always having a sticker under the hood that said "stay back from fan blades, as fan can turn on at any moment, even if the engine is off", or something to that effect.

lsiravi

I'm not quite sure. I can pop the hood and check next time.

lsiravi

FWIW, I found that it is only the Driver's side fan. The passenger side fan isn't running. I had never realized that there were two!

Curious3GTL

I am not sure what's wrong, but my 2000 TL has never once done that in almost 10 years.

I found this thread. https://acurazine.com/forums/problem...unning-796131/

lsiravi

Hmm.. thanks, Curious3GTL. Will try the radiator flush/coolant level check.

Seabright

2 fans on the TL. The smaller drivers side fan goes on if the temp climbs above 9 o'clock point on the temp gauge. And will stay running after the ignition is turned off until the temp drops. The larger fan will keep the temp in the normal range (just below 9 o'clock) in almost all conditions. So you need to check to see if the large fan is running when the engine i warm.

lsiravi

Thanks Seabright. will watch the temp needle carefully next time.

Meanwhile, an update on this. The reservoir tube (in the bottle) that draws coolant from the bottom had come off inside the bottle, with the result that the radiator prob never drew coolant from the reservoir, not sure for how long. In fact it was prob drawing the stuff from the radiator. Took out the reservoir, emptied it out, cleaned it (lot of dirty stuff in it), got a new can of coolant and refilled both the radiator and the reservoir. The radiator took in quite a bit of coolant before it filled up. Havent driven it yet since. will report back after the next 20min+ drive. Hopefully, I have the original problem licked.

Meanwhile, I also did the 'pull out antenna and reset radio code' thingy. Ridiculous having to go through that. Disconnecting the cable on the windshield hadn't worked earlier.

lsiravi

So far so good. Drove in to work today, a good 20-25 minute drive. While I don't remember what exactly the temp needle pointed to previously (I know it hadn't redlined, but not sure if it was at/beyond 9:00 or not), it is now below the 9:00 level. The fan didn't turn on after the drive either.

Hopefully we can draw a line under this thread. But I guess a general guideline for overheating issues to check the tubing in the reservoir is in order.

01tl4tl

that hose fall off is a common issue- zip tie it on!
If the fan runs more than 1-2 minutes after shutdown= you likely have a failed fan sensor A
its a really important part as it tells the fan when to operate when driving!

the driver side fan is primary engine cooling, pass side is primarily A/C condenser fan- runs when AC is ON and acts as backup for an overheat situation

normal temp is 1 -2 lines below half and never wavers!
Make sure you did the book method of burping the cooling system - includes heater ON full temp with cabin fan on full speed- rad cap off, idle till fans cycle, 2000 rpm till fan cycles, idle- top off fluid, 2000 rpm,,,yadayada = see book!!!!
Normal driving will not fix an air bubble in the system - must be let out the top~
trapped air will mess with fans in a major way.

lsiravi

Thank 01tl4tl. Will 'burp' the system once.

lsiravi

I read from here that the correct coolant is the blue.

However, the existing one in my radiator was a green. So I added more green. Something wrong somewhere. Do I need a flush and replace? Again I bought the car 3 years ago. I haven't replaced or refilled coolant, but did get the 105 done a year/18 months ago

What are the dangers of not doing this?

If doing it at all, do I need to drain both drain-ports as in here:
https://acurazine.com/forums/problem...freeze-931327/

Or is draining the one beneath the radiator sufficient? I would guess both, but the second one appears to be somewhat of a pain.

Also, someone said "run engine with AC at full blast and shut off without turning off AC, before draining engine". Does the engine need to be hot prior to drain? Or is it sufficient if the AC was running before the shutoff?

ReCKeD

iTrader: (2)

hey...before you do all that (i dont know if you tried this)
with you car warm
turn your a/c on full blast and see if the second fan turns on.
Both should be running at the same time after a couple of minutes.
My car was doing this when my second fan wasnt turning on...i guess the first fan was trying to compensate for the second not turning on, and would stay on after i turned off the car for a couple of minutes.
I ended up noticing and swapped out for working fan and the fan has never stayed on after i turn off the car.

lsiravi

ReCKeD - original prob fixed after the reservoir fixed and coolant added. The fan no longer turns on and temp is below 9'O Clock. My question is a different one now. I happen to have green coolant in the radiator.

Should I drain it and go to blue? If yes, both ports drain or just the main radiator is sufficient, and should the engine be hot at the time of drain.