urrrggg... more problems...

sat in stationary traffic for nearly an hour and a half just creeping forward at about 3 miles per hour on friday last week by dartford tunnel, got to the toll and almost imediately upon entering the tunnel rev counter dies, lost all gears, power steering warning light comes on (PS fails) and car starts to over heat, basically stuck in 1st gear (stupid stepspeed box)

i make it though the tunnel at about 5000rpm all the way though (still stuck with the 1 gear ratio) and pull over just as my water temps hit the red marker, and the oil hits about 140C...

i pop the boot open, and try to cool the engine as best i can, switch it off for about 30 mins total, in which time i started it 3 or 4 times to circulate the coolant so i didnt get hot spots....

car seems fine again now, but the engine bay fan seems to be dead and not kicking in.... (the one that blasts air out of the drivers side engine inlet)

is there a fuse for this? is it a faily common issue, and can i get a replacement fan if need be (and where from?)

any help appreciated...

Oz.

i know this isnt helpful.but you really need to get it hooked up so the engine system can be read.other wise you will just be spending weeks changing parts and could be making things worse.its easy to cook an engine and right the engine off.it could be a simple fault that can either be found by guess work or with understanding

the error codes im getting are P0.00 which is not helpful... codes im getting dont seem to make any sense...
Engine light is on, clear the error code and it stays off untill i hit stationary traffic for more than about 2 minutes, then comes back on again...

not sure if its a heat soak thing, but im sure its related to the fan not working and not getting rid of the high engine bay temps....

i have a bluetooth ODBII reader perminantly connected to the ODBII port, engine temps seem fine all the time, inlet temps seem a little high, often going up to 50C or so in slow moving traffic, again i think related to engine bay not getting rid of the heat...

Oz.

Does your car have the engine bay temp sensor just above the expansion tank?
If so disconnect the sensor plug and the fan should run when the engine's started.
sensor

Check fuse 6 under the steering wheel and also relay 3 (The one above the heated rear window relay position)

Thanks David.
Yes it has got the temp sensor above the expansion tank.
Will check fuses /relays... Where are they located?

Oz

Sounds voltage related to me.

Maybe when the temp is getting high the fan circuit is kicking in and blowing fuses/shorting to earth. The fan or associated wiring may be shorting to earth or seized.

Obviously, if you don't have a fan it will overheat in traffic.

I know from experience that lack of voltage switches off your EPAS etc. Also there is a question at the minute about low voltage and the action of the ECU that controls the gearbox. Does it go into limp home mode?

well first the rev counter starts to do this:



then i lose the power steering, and the rev needle drops to 0, even though the engine is running fine, and then the gearbox locks to 1 ratio and your effectively stuck in 1st with a speed of about 20mph at 5000rpm...

and as i found out running at 20mpg through dartford tunnel results in very hot water and oil...

car has been fine since, but not hit any stationary traffic at all since either...

Oz

Before you start the engine and with the car cold, try spinning the radiator fan and see if it is seized or free to spin. If you do it when it is hot it might start up just as you put your fingers in which isn't good. :nonod:

I would let it run on the driveway until it reaches temp. See if the fan cuts in or if it all goes to crap again.

If the fan doesn't come on I think it might be the problem.

Relay and fuse position

David Aiketgate wrote: Check fuse 6 under the steering wheel and also relay 3 (The one above the heated rear window relay position)

the rad fan is fine, its the engine bay fan thats not working, although this morning it has decided to work again without me having had a chance to check it yet...

something weird going on...

anyone know if i could wire in an extra fan in parrallel with the existing one to blow hot air out the top grills of the boot lid, as the fan by the drivers side rear engine intake is just blowing cold air out and not getting the hot air out...

Theoretically, yes. You would need to check the combined load of the two fans against the capacity of the wiring and fuse.

Why not try running with the engine bay sensor disconnected?

Then the fan will run constantly when the engine's running.

It may be that the sensor is not activating at the correct temperature. :shrug: