Ask Honest John

Honest John Ask Honest John » My engine overheats if my fans are off.

My engine overheats if my fans are off.

I've had my car for 2 months and something is bothering me. I put the heating down to cold and turned the fans off, and the engine heat was going up to red.

As soon as I put the heating to hot and turned the heating on full the engine heat would go down to the middle.

Asked on 24 February 2012 by tom666

Answered by Honest John
Probably the engine radiator fan not working so the heater matrix in the car is effectively working as a second radiator. If correct, the culprit is likely to be the engine heat sensor/sender switch which is screwed into the water jacket of the engine somewhere. Follow the cable from the radiator fan back to the block to find it.
Tags: overheating
Similar questions
My 1999 Ford Fiesta 1.25 Zetec has started to overheat once in a while. Every now and then the temperature gauge flicks into the red. The warning light doesn't come on and, once pulled over, it'll slowly...
When I take my Triumph GT6 out, the coil overheats. I have changed the coil, ballast resistor, condenser and have had the points and the timing. Is it the alternator playing up intermittently?
I have a Ford Galaxy 2.0 TDCi (180 bhp) which overheats when going up hill on all roads, including motorways. It has done 160,000 miles and I've had the belt and water pump done at 125,000 miles. The fan...