Cooling fan question..to replace or not..

My cooling fan on the drivers side had a blown fuse. It was noticed after the major service during final checkout that it was not working. So, I checked the fuse first thing and it was blown. It started working again after replacing the fuse. The car had never got hot on me prior to the service, but I also never paid attention to wether or not the fan was running because I never saw anything on the temp gauge that would make me think there was a problem. So, I do not know when it blew. The passenger side was and is working fine.

I did not look to see if the fan has ever been replaced or if it still has a stock one or the Spal 30102050 or 49 that people are using here. So, my question is this....

If you blew a fuse once, would you go ahead and replace the fan now or wait to see if it blows again and then replace it. Also, is there a chance it is fine and it won't blow the fuse again any time soon or do most people just see repeat blowing of the fuse? It had and still has a 30 amp fuse.

 

I replaced both of mine with the Spals .... I think they were the 49s ....... they do draw a tad less current ....... I have not checked if the lower current draw is because of their amp rating or just because they are new.

 

I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago, but both of my fan fuses were blown. They are both working fine now, but I was advised by fellow F-chatters that when the fans get older, they will tend to blow fuses. I will be replacing both fans with SPAL equivalents some time in the near future. It's an easy DIY project and is fairly cheap as well.

 

Both the original fans and the optional sealed bearing (lower amperage, and lower CFM) fans are made by SPAL of Italy.

 

Entirely up to you. Mine blew on the drivers side, and I went another two years before it blew again. At that time, I swapped them out for the lower amperage SPAL fans, and never looked back. I figured by the second fuse failure, I was really rolling the dice to keep replacing fuses. Dave Helms has shown that the continuous high amperage, even when it does not blow the fuse, CAN damage and melt the fuse boxes. I was lucky I didn't damage anything by waiting a couple more years.

The swap is relatively inexpensive, and if you use the fans with the correct plug on them, it only takes about 1.5 hours to do both sides.

 

Well, during my troubleshooting of the slow down light issue I am having with the new exhaust, I discovered my drivers side fan is acting wierd even though the fuse is not blowing.

When I start the car (already warmed up), it will cycle on and off as you would expect trying to maintain temp then all the sudden it won't come back on and the temp starts climbing. The passenger fan comes on and saves the day and keeps it from actually overheating, but the drivers side will stay off. It does get warmer than it should at this point, so the drivers side definatly should be on. The wierd thing is, if I turn the key off, then right back on, the drivers side will start working again immediatly. The fuse is fine and even pulling the fuse and putting the fuse back on will not restart the drivers side fan once it stops coming on, cycling the key will however turn it back on.

When the drivers fan goes off and stays off, you can tap it with a mallet or push the blades etc and it will not restart. It does not seem like an intermittent issue in the fan. It seems as if the voltage is just not being sent to it anymore (I did not check voltages or anything yet). Also once it stops, even if you don't touch it, it will start working again with a cycle of the key.

Any ideas? Passenger side seems to work flawlessly and the drivers blows good when it is running. The fuse has not had a problem yet.

 

The left side fan operation is controlled by a thermoswitch screwed into the top of the left side radiator. You could try disconnecting the plug and jumpering it, and if you turn on the ignition switch, it should come on. If that makes it work continuously, you simply need a new thermoswitch. Order a new fiber gasket too.

Right side fan is controlled by the ECU thermistor that is located just behind the oil filter. The Motronic gets the temperature signal from the thermistor, and when reached, the Motronic will send a signal to the right side fan to come on.

 

As cheap as the replacement fans are I would just replace them and save the extra amp draw. Anything to lighten the load on the fuse box is worth it.

 

I hope you don't mind me asking a question in your post.
Just wondering if you or anyone else drivers side fan is a bit noisy? Mine almost sounds like a bad bearing although I'm not getting any blown fuses.

 

Mine makes a little noise when it starts up and when it goes off and is nearly stopped. Almost sounds like the blades are hitting a leaf or debris is kicking around, or it is barely touch something. But, when it is at speed it sounds fine and I don't see anything in there that would cause a noise. So, I am not sure what that little noise is at start up and slow down.

I am probobly going to go ahead and replace the drivers fan, but I don't think the fan is the problem with not coming on sometimes. I want to know what will cure that.

Is the thermoswitch directly controlling the fan, or is the switch connected to a relay?

I just need to know if I order a switch and a fan that is it, or if something else could be an issue.

 

I finally had time to look. As I suspected there is a relay. I did not think the switch would handle the fan load. It looks like the relay is Bosch 0 332 019 103 according to the WS manual.

It may be that my relay or the switch is bad, but I feel the best course of action is just to replace all 3 parts (fan, switch, and relay) and eliminate any possiblity of a component problem.

 

Any idea how much lower CFM? I would rather have the higher amperage with higher CFM it it's significant.

 

I have decided to just replace everything at once
Lower current fans
New relays
New thermoswitch and gasket
New overflow hoses (still researching this)

Everything is ordered except the hoses. Not sure what size and length to get or which ones for sure that can swell shut. Researching...I don't want stock junk though if I can find something better.

Once I have hardly any OEM parts left on this car, it is going to be a great car!

 

2467 cfm versus 2028 cfm. No one has noticed any performance difference between them, even those in Nevada and Arizona. I have used them in upper 90 degree weather even, no issues the past two years.

Understand, even if you were to find a 3000cfm fan, it is not going to cool any better, only a bit faster. Once it hits the set point, the fan stops. With a lower cfm fan, the potential exists that it might run a bit longer to cool to the set point, but no one that has used the lower cfm fans has noticed them running longer. I certainly did not. I believe there are over two dozen fchatters now using them in North America. Dave Helms commented in my original thread that the lower CFM/current fans work fine and are "a welcome relief to the circuit".

More info and details here:
http://ferrari101.com/forum/showthread.php?t=300662

One can certainly use the oem spec fan as a replacement, but you will eventually have the same problems again, of high current running and premature failure.

 

Yes, there is a relay, but why not just swap the relays left and right side...no need to replace them. I would much prefer to diagnose the problem and confirm the issue, even if you still want to take the "shotgun" approach of replacing everything.

Consider that even if you replace everything, the problem could still be there...it could be the fuse box, or something else.

 

I don't consider it a shotgun since they are known trouble spots and have been stressed by the stock fans all these years. It's more of a PM. The relay contacts will have wear and possibly higher resistance from the arcing even if they have not failed yet due to the high current of the stock fans. It's just good insurance and cheep. If they were not so cheep ($7 each), I would swap them around and spend more time on it.

 

Jevs, Couple of quick questions as my LH fan is making a funny noise on shut off and I think I'll do what you're doing. Did you go for the SPAL 30102050? Can you share the other part numbers and places where you ordered everything?

 

Get the 30102050 and save yourself the time splicing the plugs from your old fans on. I didn't know about the 50 and bought the 49 version and wasted 20 minutes per fan doing a splice, soldering each connection and sealing it up with heat shrink tubing. I used one larger peice of heat shrink tubing for each individual splice, along with one larger peice over the entire bundle to make it look original.

Get the fans from www.the-fan-man.com


The thermo switch is part # 158655
Gasket for the switch is part # 101508
Switch and gasket you can get from Daniel at Ricambi America or Ferrparts

The relays, just pull the Bosch number off them and do a google search for sellers with the part number, they are commonly found relays and any online electronics or autoparts shop should have them for cheap.

 

I got the 50 fans through fan-man.com for $117 each plus shipping
The thermoswitch and gasket from Ferrparts $29 for switch and a $1 something for gasket
The relays from Waytek, Part number 75301 $7.04 Each.

 

I contacted Bosch directly and the current relay nos are here:

http://www.clubscuderia.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?45388-348-DIY-quot-Restoration-quot&p=718410#post718410

As mentioned there are 2 - one for each side plus another for the oil cooler fan - must admint I'd replace all these before going any further as it only takes 5 mins to do

 

Excellent help - thank you all.

 

Looks like you are talking about a 348, I have no idea if they use the same relays or not...there is no seperate oil cooler fan in a 355...

 

I put the new fans and thermoswitch in last night. I found the source of the issue I was seeing. It appears that the drivers side fan blade was warped. I believe if it would stop in a position that it was rubbing, this is when it would not come back on intermittently and also probobly why I had a blown fuse once. This is also why it was making a little noise when it slowed down.

I overkilled the repair and replaced the passenger side fan, the thermoswitch, and the relays as preventive maintenance and for piece of mind. Also, the new fans are supposed to draw less current so it will help the fuse block etc...

 

Nice work. If you want to go "all in" you may want to replace the Motronic coolant temperature sender, located near the oil filter mount (just forward of it). That is what the Motronic gets the temperature reading to determine when to turn on the right side fan.

 

Couple pics of the new fans. They fit just like the originals. The only install difference is that the plug did not have the little holder on it like the factory one so you have to drill a small hole in the plastic and use a zip tie to secure it instead (or some other method of your choice).

On the passenger side, two of the mounting bolts have to be held on the back side. It took me a few minutes to find something I could reach the back side with to hold the bolt. I was able to get a really small 10mm wrench I have back there to hold them. Other than those two bolts the rest is just lock nuts holding them on. You will have to pop the plastic mounting tabs out of your old fans and put them in the new ones. It helps to hit them with a little wd-40 so they pop out easier. If you break them, you will have to find new ones.

Ignore the dirt I have not gotten to the cleaning phase of the undercarriage and engine bay yet. I have been working on this thing for 7 months and still getting it perfect. The good news is that I am almost to just some exterior cosmetic stuff to finish it.
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