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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Northern CA
    Posts
    238

    Default Radiator Fan Not Turing On ['01 with 195K]

    The wife calls the other day when going through the drive through: "The car is overheating!"

    Why do they only act up when she is driving? Good news it was only for a very short time.

    By the time I was on the scene, temperature was down. This really did not make sense to me as the coolant level was where it should be and given it has a new radiator etc 10K miles ago. So I turned on the heat and started driving. It ran fine. Got it home and sat at idle in the driveway w/o heat on and watched the temp rise.

    There is 12V to the fan power. Using VIDA activate command I can not get the fan to come on at any of the three speeds. This suggests it the problem is in the fan controller not activating with the signal.

    Today, I went to my local Pick-N-Pull as they had just put an 01 in the yard. To my surprise, the car is cherry except for being side swiped. It clearly was an adult driven car.... for $170 I now have a fresh set of well cared for seats to replace the kid abused ones currently in my car. Plus, someone had just done a lot of high dollar repairs. New throttle, new p/s, new alt, new steering rack, new radiator etc. Best of all new Volvo radiator fan! And only $30!

    Got it home, installed and still not able to get them dumb thing to come on! I have a really hard time believing I have two bad fans.

    Anyone had this experience? How do I troubleshoot this one further?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Northeast
    Posts
    584

    Default

    Is there any way to deliver 12v to the fan with it out of the car and uninstalled to confirm that it works when the proper voltage is supplied? I'm not real experienced with electrical issues and using jumper wires, etc. so be careful!
    2007 XC70, 206,000 miles
    2002 V70XC, 130,000 miles, parts car

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Northern CA
    Posts
    238

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Xfingers View Post
    Is there any way to deliver 12v to the fan with it out of the car and uninstalled to confirm that it works when the proper voltage is supplied? I'm not real experienced with electrical issues and using jumper wires, etc. so be careful!
    Yes, but just providing 12V will not activate it. One would need to replicate the signal coming from the ECM too.

    Your point is valid, how do I validate that it is not the fan assembly. I could take apart the connector on either my 04 or 06 [Volvo changed the electro mechanical connection after 03 I believe] to get the signal that way. But when that points back to the signal wire, I guess I have to pull the ECM and ohm out to see if there is an open? Or???? Someone has to have blazed this trail and can save me a bunch of time! JRL?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Northeast
    Posts
    584

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Tahoe_XC View Post
    Your point is valid, how do I validate that it is not the fan assembly.
    Not the most "elegant" approach, but FCPEuro has lifetime guarantee/return policy no questions asked so I suppose one option is you could order a new fan from them, if it works you've found where the issue is. If it doesn't, then you know the problem isn't the fan. You could return the fan to FCPEuro for refund. You'd be out the return shipping cost. They're on the East coast (CT). Just one possible option...
    Hopefully someone with a better understanding of how the fan works will reply.
    2007 XC70, 206,000 miles
    2002 V70XC, 130,000 miles, parts car

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Cumbria, UK. Maine USA.
    Posts
    513

    Default

    Maybe the temp sender is faulty, cheap parts first, go back to the P&P and get the temp sender, Maybe?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Nebraska
    Posts
    1,442

    Default

    Check the voltage on the signal wire, even though its a PWM signal you should still be able to see a voltage, VADIS will tell you what it should be. If you have power and a PWM voltage then your fan is bad, otherwise check the continuity of the PWM circuit.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Northern CA
    Posts
    238

    Default

    Got it working, problem was the temp switch. What I learned is if the temp switch is bad the ECM will not allow VIDA to turn on the radiator fan. So if you have this problem first replace the switch, then use VIDA to see if your fan is bad.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Belgium
    Posts
    2,404

    Default

    The faulty sensor didn't cause an OBD error (the MIL wasn't turned on)?
    144 GL (1974)--->244 GL (1982)--->940 GLE 2.3i (1992)--->XC70 2.5T (2004)--->XC90 T5 (2018)

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