help please: my fans dont work.

[robbie123z]

both my small and large fans dont work on my leon cupra r. i have took tha fan unit off my car and applied 12 volts accross the two end cables of the plugs and both fans work. But i dont know what the middle cable is for on the fan plug. is this a supply to the fan for a slower speed as when i aplly voltage to this middle cable and earth it does nothing(dont work). please help anyone. also if you know where i can get a manual for my cupra r as halfords reckon haynes dont do a manual for this car.. thanks for your time..Rob.

 

[Degudodger]

Are we talking about the heater blower fan, if so the first thing i would check is the resister pack which is situated just under the fan unit. If this is at fault then i would suggest getting a new one from your local stealers, down side is that they are around £40

If you have Climatic Aircon then it may be worth taking it to somebody with the appropriate kit as this may show up on Vagcom.

 

[robbie123z]

No its my 2 main fans mounted on the radiator. found out today it is the fan unit. there are 12volts at my car end on both fast and slow speed cables, and i have read up about it and its a resister in the fan units itself which has a supply from the thinner middle cable of the plug which runs the fan in slow speed(red and white). if this goes you have no slow speed fan movement. and so the car relies on the fast speed supply of the fan(the outer cable of the plug, white and black i think) to cool the car which in turn takes the 30amp fuse link on battery from cutting in and out when hot.. gotta try and fix it myself now instead of a bill from seat of 300 pounds just for the 2 fans. rip off. oh well i can practise my soldering technique soldering a resister in the fan if i can get into it without braking the casing of the fan. hope this helps anyone with a fan problem. here is a usefull link if you have same problem as me.

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=449470

 

[richbass]

No its my 2 main fans mounted on the radiator. found out today it is the fan unit. there are 12volts at my car end on both fast and slow speed cables, and i have read up about it and its a resister in the fan units itself which has a supply from the thinner middle cable of the plug which runs the fan in slow speed(red and white). if this goes you have no slow speed fan movement. and so the car relies on the fast speed supply of the fan(the outer cable of the plug, white and black i think) to cool the car which in turn takes the 30amp fuse link on battery from cutting in and out when hot.. gotta try and fix it myself now instead of a bill from seat of 300 pounds just for the 2 fans. rip off. oh well i can practise my soldering technique soldering a resister in the fan if i can get into it without braking the casing of the fan. hope this helps anyone with a fan problem. here is a usefull link if you have same problem as me.

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=449470

Hi I have read this as i have the same problem, did or does either of your two fans work in high speed mode? I realise the slow speed mode is the problem but at the moment neither fan on my car works on high speed or slow speed so am wondering if the fans have actually given up.

I was considering doing the external resistor fix but am curious to whether its worth it if the actual fans have given up. I have had a new fuse fitted today at my local SEAT dealer, i haven't switched the aircon because i believe the fuse will just blow again.

 

[robbie123z]

hey. i just soldered the resister back on inside the fan.solder didnt fix well to the resister metal so you have to wrap thin copper speaker cable rond it tight then solder. both my fans didnt work in high or slow mode. i repaired the resisters with the internal fix then replaced the fuse on the battery and its working for now. if you test with an ohm meter between the middle cable(slow speed feed 12volts) on the plug to the brown(earth) you should get a reading of about 0.9 to 1.1 ohms the higher the figure the slower the fan will turn. if it is a high ohm reading like over 200 ohm or no continuity then in my oppinion i would say its the resister. connect the fans connector plug to a battery to see if the motor windings are ok or if its seezed. connect the negative side of the battery to the brown and then the positive to the the middle prong(slow speed feed) it shouldnt work if it is the reister. then with the negative on the brown still put the positive on the other prong(fast speed feed) this should operate the fan at high speed. if it does spin fast doing this test the fan motor will be ok so get the motor apart and try soldering the resister. hope this helps. someone showed me a link that shows step by step how to fix this known problem and mine now works fine touch wood. thanks to this great site i saved about 300 pound. hope you do to. good luck mate.

 

[richbass]

Hi Robbie

thanks for that, very helpful, i shall check it out when i get a chance. Soon rather than later obviously, don't want to be overheating. If i find that the high speed fan does work when connected to the battery, i shall do the resistor mod that was stated on the VW forum

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=449470#449470

ALSO how did you get to the plug on the fans? did you remove the whole fan unit? does that involve alot of work? Could you please explain how you tested the plug, as i don't want to have to take the whole front of the car apart if i don't need to

Cheers

Rich

 

[richbass]

Ok got my car on the ramps last night and tested both fans with a power feed from the battery, high speed work on both low speed doesn't which confirms the resistor has indeed failed, so gonno order the parts today for the external resistor mod, just gotta find someone to make up that aluminium heatsink for me, does anyone know someone who can make these?

 

[robbie123z]

i may be wrong but all it is is a small sheet of aliminium that dissipates the heat off the resisters that are screwed to the aliminium plate(heat sink) as i say i may be wrong. but if you think you are competent enough to do the wiring, you should breeze through cutting a piece of metal and mounting two resisters to it. it shows pictures on that link i had. go to the very bottom of the link and you will see someone used an old computer heatsink but i think a sheet of metal would do the same job. hope this helps.

 

[richbass]

I ordered the parts the other day got them all today so gonna do this fix this weekend or next week, i'll let people know how i get on, incase people search for this thread, it will show them how to fix the cooling fans.

 

[richbass]

ok i carried out the external resistor mod this weekend, works a treat, both fans are operating as normal now, hell of a lot cheaper than paying £300-400 for a stealer to fix the fans, only for them to fail again in the near future when the internal resistor eventually burns out.

Cost me about £35 for all the materials.

Only thing is the aluminium template shown on the golf fourm, will not fit on a LCR due to the second intercooler and extra structural bracing getting in the way. However may fit all lower models such as Leon Cupra with a single intercooler although can't be certain.

So to get around this I ended up mounting the aluminium plate vertically next to the second intercooler using pop rivets. Very sturdy and doesn't interfere with any cabling.

The downside to this mod though is the wiring, pain in the ar@e! i was only using ramps to get under the front of car, would have been much easier to go to a garage to use their vertical ramps to get the whole car off the floor and stand underneath.