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Author Topic: Espace 2.2dci radiator fan not cutting in  (Read 10740 times)
colin4255
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« on: August 05, 2009, 12:03:36 am »

Hi Guys, outstanding forum. I have added a couple of posts already to help others, but now I could use some help??

I have a 2002 2.2 Dci Espace on which the radiator fan is jut not cutting in.  The engine always tends to read 3 bars on the temp guage when warm and unless i thrash the thing, it rarely gets to 4 bars lit up.

Now it seems to be reaching 4 bars lit up after about 15 miles of driving. The other day I drove it for about an hour in hot weatrher and heavy traffic - it never really got any hotter than 4 bars on the guage, but then I parked it on my drive and let it idle for twenty minutes - it got no hotter really, at least not on th temp guage, but the fan just did not cut in at all.

All I have managed to check so far is that the wiring all seems OK and the radiator fan fuse is not blown (I did change this anyway just in case it was damaged in some way) but I was wondering what else is likely to cause this issue?

Are there any sensors I can check or change? Obviusly the fan motor itself could be broken, but as I do not know what would happen, I decided against trying to test the fan directly off a battery as I was not sure which of the two wires that  go to it is  live and which is earth??

Any suggestions?

Thanks

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colin4255
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« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2009, 09:32:10 pm »

OK guys, it seems odd replying to my own post BUT I have had my local renault dealer look at the espace today.  They have hooked it up to their computer and manually tested the fan cut-in (by falsely applying temp readings to the ECU) and it all seems fine. I watched all this go on so am a sure as I can be the thing is operating properly.

What they say is that the JE G9T diesels with air con have massive cooling systems and it is very, very  rare for the fans to cut in even if you leave them idling when hot for quite some time.  With 4 bars lit on the temp guage the engine water temp as only at about 86 - 88 degrees.  The temp would generally go above 95 - 99 degrees before the fan would cut in by itself. From their experience, very long motorway runs fully loadd followed by stopped in traffic, or if towing a caravan and engine under quite a bit of load. 

One neat trick they showed me that can help anyone tell if their fan is working, is to turn on the air con - once you do that the radiator fan cuts in automatically all the time the air con is running no matter how hot or cold the engin temp is.  Not sure if this applies to all Espaces with air con or just the JE0K - JE0-X G9T engines though, but useful info nonetheless.
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Lennart Sorth
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« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2009, 11:40:07 pm »

OK guys, it seems odd replying to my own post
but very useful nevertheless :-)

Quote
What they say is that the JE G9T diesels with air con have massive cooling systems

And the Dci's are so effective, that very little energy actually is left to heat the engine/coolant. Thats also why they have a coolant-heater installed, to assist the coolant in reaching a temperature, where it can be used for creature comfort inside.

(Unfortunately, I don't think there is a simple way to modify this engine-heater to work without the engine running as it is very integrated into the ECU software ... it would have been a great feature for those of us living in cold countries.)

Turning the AC on requires airflow to the condenser - which is why it turns the fan on. However this only verifies that the fan works, not that it will cut in at a certain coolant temperature - here you need the neat trick your Renault dealer did by injecting false temperature values, and you probably also should also check that the sensor sends correct data.   Does anybody know what the different bars on the temp-gauge roughly corresponds to in degrees Celcius ?

/Lennart
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Lennart.Sorth@matrasport.dk
Murena 1983 1.9i silver // Honda e '20 Charge Yellow  // VW Polo '22 1.0 tsi silver//
roy4matra
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« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2009, 10:40:06 pm »

OK guys, it seems odd replying to my own post BUT I have had my local renault dealer look at the espace today.  They have hooked it up to their computer and manually tested the fan cut-in (by falsely applying temp readings to the ECU) and it all seems fine. I watched all this go on so am a sure as I can be the thing is operating properly.

What they say is that the JE G9T diesels with air con have massive cooling systems and it is very, very  rare for the fans to cut in even if you leave them idling when hot for quite some time.  With 4 bars lit on the temp guage the engine water temp as only at about 86 - 88 degrees.  The temp would generally go above 95 - 99 degrees before the fan would cut in by itself. From their experience, very long motorway runs fully loadd followed by stopped in traffic, or if towing a caravan and engine under quite a bit of load.  

One neat trick they showed me that can help anyone tell if their fan is working, is to turn on the air con - once you do that the radiator fan cuts in automatically all the time the air con is running no matter how hot or cold the engin temp is.  Not sure if this applies to all Espaces with air con or just the JE0K - JE0-X G9T engines though, but useful info nonetheless.

Checking the system via Clip is the easiest and best way since these cars actually have a two stage fan set up, and you can check both stages.  First stage comes in around 99 degrees and the second stage about 106 degrees (if my memory serves me correctly).  When you turn the air con. on the first stage is activated all the time and only if it gets hotter than the upper temperature will the second stage come in.

As Lennart pointed out, the dCi engine is so efficient that it uses its own heat so well that it is rare to get the fans cutting in unless it really has been worked hard, and just letting it idle will not usually do it. (unless you have a fault with the system like a partially blocked radiator or whatever) or you switch the air con. on and that will only be the first stage as I've just said.  After getting it hot in traffic driving, if you let it idle it will often cool down slightly!

Roy
« Last Edit: August 14, 2009, 10:42:30 pm by roy4matra » Logged

colin4255
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« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2009, 11:00:44 pm »

Thanks for the input, your comments all make sense. In 2 years of owning the thing and 30000 miles of driving, never had the fan cut in, even in quite long periods of traffic jams. I only got concerned when the temp guage started lighting up 4 bars instead of the 3 that I was used to seeing. I agree it would help if we had some idea, what measurement one bar on the gusgae represented.

The vehicle seems fine though - its probably just me being paranoid - it does have a huge cooling system!
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