Need help - Fan Problem !!!!

marwayg

marwayg

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When i turn my audi a3 3.2 off, sometimes when car is off and keys are in my hand the fan stil runs. This normally runs for 5-15mins.
This is fine.

However, today i turned my car off and the fan has been running for an hour!!! and it is still running!
Why is this happening.
Also, when i open my bonnet, at the front of the car there seems to be two fans. One on the left was spinning and the one on the right wasnt.
Then i turned to car on and the one on the left continued running, but the one on the right still wasnt spinning.

I dont know if this is normal for the right one not to be on, but the fact that the car is off and the fan is goin on for nearly 2 hours now is worrying!!!

What can i do?

Grateful for any help!
 
I had this on mine and they replaced the whole fan unit under warranty. Not a big job, but its something you need the car in the air to do so you can drop the fans out from underneath. Probably about an hours work. Any error codes (worth getting VCDS check before spending further cash).
 
did the fan stop in the end for yours??
And i havent had any error codes at all on my dash. Is it pricey to replace the fan unit??
What is a VCDS? (sorry im new to this)
 
No dash errors - you have to plug in a daignostics tool to pull the error codes off of the ECU.

Mine did stop in the end, but took ages. Since new unit it's been fine.

As mine was done under warranty Ive got no idea how much it would have cost, but someone I know who has had one done at an independent garage paid £300 fitted and I think that may have been a 'used' rather than new one.
 
Hmmm, i gonna go down and have a look if it has stopped.
Otherwise i will take it to my mechanic.

Do you know whether or not the right fan is supposed to be spinning at all? Last thing i want is for the car to over heat!
I hope its not major as i dont want to splash out the cash :(
 
Or is there an alternative way to manually stop the fan?
 
Open drivers door, get a flat blade screwdriver, and prize dash end plate off. Not a specific fuse attributed to fan, so try removing either:

Fuse 23
Fuse 28
Fuse 29
Fuse 38

all of which relate to engine components / controls (do one at a time and then replace until it stops). Fuse codes should be above blade fuses, or stamped on back or dash end plate.

If it doesn't stop best option is to pop the negative battery terminal off for now.
 
Just rang my mechanic and he said there might be a trapped wire of some sort.
But he said to take it for a drive now, and bring it baack and see what happens.
If it continues again (it will drain my battery), so i should dissconnect the battery.
It has been 15minutes since i switched my car off so i will go down in 10 minutes and see if it still going.

If it is, i will try dissconnect the fuses that you said.
Where is the fuse box? (no idea where the end plate is)
What are the fuse codes and blade codes. (really sorry not familiar with these terms)

Thank you!!
 
ok, its been 35mins since i turned car off.... fan still going!!!!!!!

I gonna try fuse thing you said to try.
 
Sounds like the relay that is supposed to turn the fan off after the engine temperature drops has failed, hence it's not turning off. Get mechanic to test relays first, then temperature sensor, then move on to fans.
 
okay thats fine!
Still running .... i took at look at the fuses... but 3 of the fuses you mentioned werent there! and the one that was there didnt make a difference.
I think that i have to dissconnect battery! Am i right in saying that i dissconnent the negative only??? (dont know where the negative terminal is in the 3.2's ....

svrs5u.jpg
 
No idea whether the battery is same way round in 3.2, but there should be a negative symbol on the body of the battery, or there is likely to be a cap shielding the + terminal
 
Ok, ive located the battery in the boot. I was told by my mechanic to dissconect the negative terminal and bring car to him in the morning (by reconecting the terminal)
However, he said that reconnecting the terminal might just reset everything and the fan issue might be ok. (I really hope this is the case)
Anyway, fan is not operating now as battery is dissconnected.
 
Good news! At least it will roll in the morning, and fan being on during running won't hurt it.

Best of luck getting it sorted.
 
Cheers Mate! Appreciate the help... ill update you tommorow on what happens! :)
 
Right, Update..... plugged battery back in this morning... car failed to start. Battery was completely flat.
Tried jump leads and still didnt work. Didnt make it to uni, and had to get a battery booster pack given to me. That literally 'Just about' worked.
And took it to the garage and my guy said he will look at it over night.
What he said was: if it is the fan unit and if the sensor has gone, he will save me money and install a switch to activate and deactivate the fan. But obviously i have to manually control when the fan is on and when the fan is off!
So he is going to get back to me tommorow!!!
I hope for the love of god it isnt a major problem!
 
Hmmmm, whilst it's a workaround of sorts, the car knows when it needs some fanning, and the likelihood is, you may not always remember.

I'd rather go and find a part in a scrappy than fit a manual work around as you could end up with a MUCH more expensive problem instead.
 
its the fan unit mate, like said, is about 300 quid to fix, unfortunatly the fan unit is completely sealed, so no matter what the problem is and where, it has to be replaced.

unfortunatly there is no fuse to pull to stop it over night (i tried every one of them) and as said, with a manual switch, if you forget to flip it your in deep doo doo!
 
yeah i guess that is true, knowing my luck ill end up forgetting when to put it on/off.

Well, he is going to investigate tonight and tommorow let me know what the problem is, what options i have, and how much it is going to cost.

So i will update you all tonight! Just dreading that it is going to be as you said: the Fan unit (which is going to set me back £300) :(
 
sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it cant be much else, even if they can narrow it down to what part of the fan unit has gone, as its all sealed, it has to all be replaced.

what happens is water gets in the unit, and trips the wiring, and thats it, mine got so bad it would completely run flat every night!

but you never know with cars, if you lucky it might be something else small and silly! fingers crossed anyway
 
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*UPDATE*

My personal car mechanic said he did diagnostics and couldnt find what was causing the fan problem. He said he couldnt find an engine light failure yet the fan was still running.
So he contacted the VW specialists and is going to have to keep my car (again) overnight to think and work on a solution as he doesnt want me spending money.
I sasid others said it may cost money (£300) and he said "nah **** that i dont want you spending that kind of money" (his words not mine).
So he going to continue looking overnight.
I know you are all saying the whole fan unit needs to be replace and is going to cost £300. But i am just looking out for that little possibility of it being something else!!
 
*UPDATE*

Car mechanic said, he worked on my car for 3 hours straight and couldnt get down to the problem and he cant do much as he doesnt know what the core of the problem is! and he said that the VW specialists that he contacted didnt get back to him so he will chase them up monday morning!!
Worst case scenario he said he will just help me order the parts to replace the bits that cause the problem (fan unit).
But now i have to wait till monday morning and ring him at 1pm.
 
Right, all sorted now.... car mechanic rang me today and said: its going to be the £300 option of replacing whole fan unit.... OR... he can fit that switch that controls the fan to be on or off!
But then he came up with a third better option. He will wire it properly so that the fan is in control with the ignition. When i turn the car on, the fan will turn on instantly. when i turn the car off, the fan will stop simultaneously!
Its costing me £80 so im going to do that tommorow!
 
Certainly the lesser of the evils. If you take this route when you get back from along journey on a long day, or a spirited drive I would sit at idle for 20-30 secs just to let the car blow out excess heat. Best of luck!
 
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Ok, basically the guy couldnt do the wiring for the fan to start with ignition because it was bringing up the engine managment light.
So i had to suck up my guts and just pay the £340 to replace the fan unit. (200 for fan + 40 Vat.... 100 fitting)
Got the car back today after a whole week and the fan is brand new and fixed!! :)
 
If anything sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Glad to hear you got it sorted mate; at least the car will thank you for it on a hot day.
 
A shame the ignition switch idea didn't work, it sounded like a reasonable workaround.
 
Cheers guys for the help... appreciate it!!

yeah too right... ive kept my old fan .. going to keep it as can possibly use parts of it if anything happens (god forbid)
Or cud sell it as a faulty part ... anything is better than nothing :)
 
Also, he told me he saw my gaitor on the passengers side and said it is split (showed me a picture of it)!! and will need repairing in the future.
Any idea how much it costs? (he said he will need to take driveshaft out to fix it. any ideas? i havent got crank noises at present yet... but i will do in the future. Cheers! :)
 
omg £100 for fitting it only takes 40 mins to remove and fit.


and i take it you got 2 new fans not 1 ????



marwayg said:
Ok, basically the guy couldnt do the wiring for the fan to start with ignition because it was bringing up the engine managment light.
So i had to suck up my guts and just pay the £340 to replace the fan unit. (200 for fan + 40 Vat.... 100 fitting)
Got the car back today after a whole week and the fan is brand new and fixed!! :)
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
If you leave it too long water gets into the gaitor, washes out the grease, the CV joint will rust and you'll have another big bill.

Might be worth contacting German, Swedish and French Car Parts, or EuroCar Parts as they are bound to do cheap gaitor repair kits with grease.

Not a pleasant job, need a decent jack, some axle stands, some elbow grease and at least an hour and a half if your not a regular mechanic.
 
Im not a mechanic at all...otherwise i would have done it all by myself if i had a step by step guide!!

LOL yeah £100 labour! :( i really wanted to do it myself but i didnt know what to do!! if i ever have the opportunity to do so with a clear step by step guide id love to get my hands dirty! :)

How much am i looking at for a gaitor then roughly?
 
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