I don't believe it ! (Victor Meldrew voice)

[peanut]

No seriously this one has truly got me beat.

I woke with a start at 7.30am this morning to the sound of my Wife shouting up the stairs ' your car fans running '

uh? [&:] tumbled out of bed half asleep, ran down the stairs out into the lane half dressed to be met with a blast of frozen air and a blizzard.!.... wtf?

Sure enough in the still morning air the fan was howling like a banshee ... Tried the passenger door... handle froze in the open position door welded shut with solid ice. Tried the passenger door same . Hit it a few times with frustration and it opened thank god. Climbed across the seats to yank the bonnet catch aware that I was committing that cardinal sin I am forever warning the Wife of ......Don't kneel on the leather seats !'

Pulled the bonnet , no glasses so pulled a few fuses at random without luck. Finally found what i thought was the right fuse and pulled it and instead of the fan turning off the other fan cut in so now the car is sounding like a jump-jet Harrier about to take off!.

Looked again and found the second fan's fuse No 10 and yanked it and there was immediate silence . Just as well really because the hatch is so frozen there is no chance of getting to the battery until its thawed some.

Well i guess it has to be the radiator sensor ,...it can't really be anything else really. As luck would have it I actually have a spare sensor in the kitchen dressor that I bought last year and never got around to fitting .Working on the car today was definitely not on last nights agenda but i guess I'd better roll out the extension lead and put the battery on charge .But I'm going to have brekkers and a nice cuppa first lol[]


safe journey everyone

 

[Peter Empson]

This has happened to me once on each car so far, although I was less lucky as they stranded me with a flat battery both times!

 

[peanut]

did it happen when it was freezing ? thats the odd thing. The fans didn't come on at any time during the night as far as I know. Just at 7am this morning.!

 

[JamesO]

Moisture on the connectors to the fan switch? My lux fan used to come on if you got a bit carried away with the hose and the sensor got wet.
Some grease sorted that.

 

[cococola]

I replaced my fan switch today and that cured mine[]

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: cococola

I replaced my fan switch today and that cured mine[]

at last ! []
guess I'll be replacing mine when the weather is a bit warmer. []

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: JamesO

Moisture on the connectors to the fan switch? My lux fan used to come on if you got a bit carried away with the hose and the sensor got wet.
Some grease sorted that.

no moisture but plenty of solid ice [] have you seen the weather for the South West lol ?
-15 degrees expected tonight Brrrrr

 

[peugeot]

What a clever and observant wife . Do you have any spare ones? Mine would never notice a thing like that , unless it was something to do with a shop .
My S2 is away for some sill work and a respray so I dilligently put the daily driver in the garage ,got out , locked car ,pressed closed on wall switch for garage door and realised that wifes car keys that had garage open remote ,was on passenger seat of my car .DOH !!! (senior homer moment) Trying to contact bodyshop owner tonight and arrange for him to get keys of porsche with spare remote for garage .If sucessful will have a 20 mile drive on snowy country lanes tomorrow (in wifes car using her spare key , shouldn't slag her really)[]

 

[JamesO]

ORIGINAL: peanut

ORIGINAL: JamesO

Moisture on the connectors to the fan switch? My lux fan used to come on if you got a bit carried away with the hose and the sensor got wet.
Some grease sorted that.

no  moisture but plenty of solid ice []  have you seen the weather for the South West lol ?
-15 degrees expected tonight Brrrrr

Tell me about it! I have to 'pop' to Scotland monday for a weeks work, taking in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness, Should be fun. I voiced my concerns over the weather and my boss suggested I put a shoval in the van.

Ice is a pretty good conductor of electrikery too.

 

[mr brightside]

This is a commom problem! Lucky for you your fans were running loud enough to hear. When my fan switch stuck all i could hear was a faint noise coming from the front of the car first thing in the morning. Peering under the nose confirmed my worst nightmare- very slow fan speed, somewhere to be, no spare battery. I don't know why i even bothered to try turning the key, it was a horrible sight of confirmation, very dim ignition lamps.

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: peugeot

What a clever and observant wife . Do you have any spare ones? Mine would never notice a thing like that , unless it was something to do with a shop .
My S2 is away for some sill work and a respray so I dilligently put the daily driver in the garage ,got out , locked car ,pressed closed on wall switch for garage door and realised that wifes car keys that had garage open remote ,was on passenger seat of my car .DOH !!! (senior homer moment) Trying to contact bodyshop owner tonight and arrange for him to get keys of porsche with spare remote for garage .If sucessful will have a 20 mile drive on snowy country lanes tomorrow (in wifes car using her spare key , shouldn't slag her really)[]

oops [] We were able to operate our 944 door remote using a cell fone once. If you could find the range of frequenies used for the door control you might find something in your house that could open the door . I'd try every remote control and gadget I had before driving 20 miles in the snow []

 

[zcacogp]

Yikes! I think the fan switch is a small wax capsule which operates some contacts, wax having a decent coefficient of thermal expansion so it squeezes the contacts together when it gets hot and thus turns the fan on.

I can't understand why this would fail when cold tho'; unless it is as others have said that moisture on the contacts is freezing which completes the circuit. Do the connectors have a rubber cover?

Good spot on behalf of your wife - as Peugeot said. Keep us posted with whether you cure the problem or not. ANY form of outside work in this weather isn't funny, car mechanics least of all.


Oli.

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

Yikes! I think the fan switch is a small wax capsule which operates some contacts, wax having a decent coefficient of thermal expansion so it squeezes the contacts together when it gets hot and thus turns the fan on.

I can't understand why this would fail when cold tho'; unless it is as others have said that moisture on the contacts is freezing which completes the circuit. Do the connectors have a rubber cover?

Good spot on behalf of your wife - as Peugeot said. Keep us posted with whether you cure the problem or not. ANY form of outside work in this weather isn't funny, car mechanics least of all.


Oli.

good spot ! ..... crikey it was so loud that it sounded like a harrier jet landing outside the house lol!

Yeah ok I guess it was a good shout (shakes head ,mutter ,grumble )

As I understand it the thermistor works on the principle of a bi-metal strip a bonding of two metals with dissimilar thermal characteristics which expand and contract at different temperatures ?

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: peanut
As I understand it the thermistor works on the principle of a bi-metal strip a bonding of two metals with dissimilar thermal characteristics which expand and contract at different temperatures ?

Nick,

If it rivalled a Harrier jump jet in decibels then I suspect your fan bearings are toast!

It may be a bimetallic strip, I don't know. I know the VW equivalent was a wax expansion capsule, and I think it's the same part on a 944. (The common failure for the VW part is that the capsule leaks and the wax is lost, meaning that the thing never switches on as it should.) I think that bimetallic strips are not that cheap to make consistently, and it could be that the wax capsule option was cheaper to manufacture.


Oli.

 

[peanut]

cheep Oli ! Cheep ? what is cheep about a Porsche 944 pray tell lol []

I won't have you casting dispersions on our great classic cars ......... economical perhaps.... cheap never []

 

[zcacogp]

Cheep = the noise a small bird makes.

Cheap = the cost that all car manufacturers seek for the manufacture of their cars.

([])


Oli.

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

Cheep = the noise a small bird makes.

Cheap = the cost that all car manufacturers seek for the manufacture of their cars.

([])


Oli.

you lost your sense of humour today Oli ? anyway why arn't you working ![]

oh and whilst we are on the subject of tweets me ol sparrow....are you a 'proper' cockney?

 

[zcacogp]

Nick,

Sorry - it came over as harsher than it was meant to!

Am working, but have a half-day off ...

No, not a proper cockney. Not by a long, long way - don't ask! [] (My sister is tho'!)


Oli.

 

[peanut]

harsh Oli ? ... you ? of course not mon Ami... mine chum... my buddy .[]

Soooo your skinnblista is a proper cockney then eh? like Me. I was born in Bethnal Green so well in the range of the bell of St Mary-le-Bow .
I've traced my forebears back 200 years in Holborn , Spitalfields and Shoreditch so generations of the blighters on my Father's side .

 

[peugeot]

ORIGINAL: peanut

oops []    We were able to operate our 944 door remote using a cell fone once. If you could find the range of frequenies used for the door control you might find something in your house that could open the door . I'd try every remote control and gadget I had before driving 20 miles in the snow []

Thanks peanut , managed to pick the lock using only a safety pin and a hair clip (useful wife again). Took an hour with frozen fingers , but better than snowey drive. Amazing what you can find on youtube really !