Hi,

My cooling fans are staying on all of the time on my 97' 2.5 p38. Temperature gauge reads normal and no signs of overheating. It did do this now and again but now on constantly. Can't find any obvious radiator switches on car or mentioned in parts catalogues.

Thanks

Kevin

Just found another thread and learnt that these are the condeser fans for air con. Air con is very cold and no faults sjown on dash. Have taken out relays for now.

Looks like you've quickly pre-empted a lot of obvious replies there!

And talking of obvious replies, you're not somewhere hot and you have the air-con set to a low temp do you? In which case they are working normally. Having said that it seems most peoples experiences of the condensor fans is them never coming on, but thought you might live in Cyprus or somewhere!

Are they on when the the ignition is off?

Hi'

No, not abroad - sunny Ross on Wye not far from you! Only came on yesterday continually and the temp was 21 degrees - the air con was set low but not actually switched on at panel. Fans came on when ignition was switched on only.

Just been out and replaced relays to have a play around and the fans don't come on now! May have been a dickey connection or stupid computer fault. Having read up on air con the fans come on when pressure rises in system which I take is when it gets hot. Maybe its a pressure switch fault or loom problem which I've learnt from another forum. Seems ok for now, so thanks for your help.

Kevin

kdunlop said:

Hi'

No, not abroad - sunny Ross on Wye not far from you! Only came on yesterday continually and the temp was 21 degrees - the air con was set low but not actually switched on at panel. Fans came on when ignition was switched on only.

Just been out and replaced relays to have a play around and the fans don't come on now! May have been a dickey connection or stupid computer fault. Having read up on air con the fans come on when pressure rises in system which I take is when it gets hot. Maybe its a pressure switch fault or loom problem which I've learnt from another forum. Seems ok for now, so thanks for your help.

Kevin

Click to expand...

maybe wills is the best one to answer this for you kevin he seems to be a bit of an aircon guru ( sorry wills ) , i think there is a switch under the passenger side front plumbed into the aircon that controls the fans , as i say though wills im sure can tell you far better than i can .
rick.

Thanks Rick, i wish i knew everything, can only say what I have learnt though so here goes...

As you have rightly figured out the condenser fans are for the A/C system.

When you say the aircon was set to LO but it wasn't switched on are you absolutely sure?? The A/C is off when the light is ON. So, you push the A/C OFF button and the light come on above it, this means the A/C is off.

If the A/C is definitely off then the fans should not run. If they are still running when the A/C is off then you must have a fault somewhere (for anyone reading this in the future this applies to the diesel model only according to the ETM in RAVE - the petrol version can control the fans without the need for the A/C to be on).

Do you have any book symbol showing on the HeVAC panel itself?? I would not advise leaving the fans unplugged and still running the A/C, EVERY single part of the A/C system is expensive, even the little o-rings for various pieces are expensive, you dont want to break it!

Lastly, just reading your last post once again, it really does sound like the A/C condenser fans are just doing their normal thing. Im thinking from what you have described, you do actually have the A/C on without realising, and when you have sat idling for a while the fans come on to control the pressure in the system as they should and this got you worried as you hadn't seen it before, which is normal as its never usually hot enough in the UK to require them! When you went out and checked later and started up they didnt come on, this would be because the car had sat, cooled down and the pressure in the system was not sufficient to require fan operation.

We really need to know whether the A/C is on or off - don't worry if you think the A/C is on when the light is on, you wouldn't be the first, tis just LR's backwards way of doing things, much like the front window switches being at the top of the panel rather than the bottom!

-Wills

Hi Wills,

I'm 99% sure the air con was in the off position (orange light on) because we were out for the day and I've just developed an allergy to rapeseed pollen which made me close all air vents, sunroof and turn air con off every couple of miles or so. The fans came on when I turned the key even before the journey and before the engine had started so not even enough time to warm up. (The same yesterday morning as well)

I did replace the relays (yesterday) after leaving it cool for an hour - so nowhere near hot enough to bring the fans on. There may be a 1% chance that I had mistakenly left switch on (as you said I wouldn't be the first to do so). It seems ok now so fingers crossed I was mistaken all along. I'll blame it on the runny nose and eyes watering!

Thanks for all of your help.

Kevin

kdunlop said:

Hi Wills,

I'm 99% sure the air con was in the off position (orange light on) because we were out for the day and I've just developed an allergy to rapeseed pollen which made me close all air vents, sunroof and turn air con off every couple of miles or so. The fans came on when I turned the key even before the journey and before the engine had started so not even enough time to warm up. (The same yesterday morning as well)

I did replace the relays (yesterday) after leaving it cool for an hour - so nowhere near hot enough to bring the fans on. There may be a 1% chance that I had mistakenly left switch on (as you said I wouldn't be the first to do so). It seems ok now so fingers crossed I was mistaken all along. I'll blame it on the runny nose and eyes watering!

Thanks for all of your help.

Kevin

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ok, well keep an eye on it and come back if you have any more problems, sure we can then work through some things to figure the problem out.

I also sometimes get hay-fever and the only place I want to be when I actually do get it is inside my RR with the A/C on! If you keep the pollen filters in good nick and replace them if they are old then you will find that they are very good at filtering out most things, like rapeseed pollen. I would have a check over of your filters and replace if needed, dead easy to do, open the bonnet and then at each bottom corner of the screen look for a door held in place by 2 screws. Remove the 2 screws and take off the cover, pull the filter out and check its condition. They can get overlooked on services etc and so they can be really old and ratty. If you are getting bad hay-fever in the RR with all the windows and doors closed and the A/C running then I would suggest that one or both of them may be old and no good, replace and see how you get on then One word of warning though, when pulling the filters be wary of any leaves or debris on top of the filters IF the centre plenum foam, that foam at the bottom middle of the screen, is not present. If that foam has disintegrated you may find leaves and whatever on top of the filters which isnt good, so be careful when pulling them out.

-Wills

Hi Wills,

I did change them last year but worth doing again because I live in a rented house on a farm so not the best enviroment for cleanliness.

Now if I could just figure out how to sort out the rapeseed field 200 hundred yards in front of the house and 200 yards behind?..........

thanks

Kevin

PS

I am thinking of moving!