1996 E 300-I noticed my temperature going up in my E300 so I looked at the electrial fans and they were not turning at all with the A/C on. Outside temp about 90F. While watching the electical fans and hearing the a/c compressor kick in I could see the fans "twitch" like they were going to spin but they did not. Any ideas here? relay? dryer?

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1999 E300 TD 190,000
1996 Passat TDI 225,000-sold
1996 E300 120,000-sold
1998 Jetta TDI 186,000 -sold
1983 Chev Suburban C20 6.2-sold

Mine came on today when the car was idling in my driveway (me attempting to function like a "turbo timer"), ouside temp was about 90ºF and the engine temp was 85ºC, A/C was on...normal operating temp is right at 80ºC.

The fans should not come on unless the engine is really hot and the car is standing still, usually with the A/C on....but when they come on, YOU'LL HEAR THEM. They're pretty loud.

Can you describe the "twitch" in more detail?

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99 E300 TD -- sold
01 540i 6 spd

Thanks for the quick reply
Wife only drove about 6 miles of stop and go so not a long distance but enough to heat it up for sure. I jumped in it when she got home and drove maybe a half mile. I noticed on the way home it was up to 100c I let it cool down, then started it up and let it run for about 10 minutes tonight-it climbed to about 92C before I shut it off.
while it was idling I saw the electic fans move-very slightly or twitch every time the compressor kicked in. They just never started turning.

BTW- they announced in the Fresno Bee that a biodiesel plant is being built in Sanger! (10 miles southest of Fresno)

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1999 E300 TD 190,000
1996 Passat TDI 225,000-sold
1996 E300 120,000-sold
1998 Jetta TDI 186,000 -sold
1983 Chev Suburban C20 6.2-sold

Wow, those are high temperatures. My car runs at 80ºC and NEVER tops 90ºC. Yours shouldn't be reaching 100ºC in Fresno...I once drove my E300 "Autobahn style" across the New Mexico desert (125 mph tops ), the car didn't even break a sweat.

If the fan twitches were coordinated with the A/C compressor kicking in, I'd say it's a relay of some sort. Either that or it's as simple as something caught in one of the fans...if one is blocked, neither will turn.

The biodiesel plant is good news. I was in a partnership for awhile to build one in Sacramento, but that deal never came through. However, a "B99" pump recently opened at Interstate in Woodland (20 min west of Sac).

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99 E300 TD -- sold
01 540i 6 spd

That is not normal temps for this car either, usually sits around 80C. good thing I decided to take it to the store tonight, who knows when my wife would have noticed it, if ever

I did not see anything stuck in one of the fans but I will take a closer look tommorow and also search for a relay.

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1999 E300 TD 190,000
1996 Passat TDI 225,000-sold
1996 E300 120,000-sold
1998 Jetta TDI 186,000 -sold
1983 Chev Suburban C20 6.2-sold

Thats the same situation I had, if you can turn them freely by hand then its probably a bad fan motor. Sometimes the belt that connects the two will slip and twist and that could be jamming the fans. I ordered mine from Phil.. Installed it myself. Mine will run around 90-95 degrees Celciusin heavy stop and go traffic when temps are over 80 degree Farenheit outside. If you dont repair or replace you run the risk of the high R134 pressure blowing out seals in the compressor.

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Dennis
2006 E320 CDI Black/Black Leather. Nav, HTD Seats HK stereo 32000 miles.
2000 VW Passat 1.8t 300,000 miles as of Dec 09, 2009 original owner
1997 E300d Silver 300,000 miles As of Jan 05, 2010
3rd owner SOLD

If mine gets above 85c the fan clutch engages. If you do not hear a very loud roar when it hits 85-90c yours isnt working.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

1. Fans help in the engine cooling--remember this car has alum. head!

2. Fans help keep the head pressure(compressor) lower. If you don't you could create a leak in the weakest link on the high side of your air conditioning and that happens to be your evaporator. You don't want to know how much this would cost you!

3. Try this: while your air compressor is engaged, tap on the front of the fans with the handle of a screwdriver. Mine both were not working and I tried this and they both engaged. the next day one was balky and I did it again; now they both work properly. Make sure to tap lightly right in the middle of the hub and tap in the direction of the rear of the car.

4. At any rate, get this critical item resolved immediately or you AND your wallet will be sorry.

5. This info is for a 1995 E300D. This set-up has two fans wired into the compressor relay and water temp switch.

Thanks for the info guys-
I understand the urgency of this problem and I will not drive it around until i get it working properly.
Is there a way to test these fans to see if they work? I would hate to buy some new ones and have the same problem. I will try to tap them when I get home from work

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1999 E300 TD 190,000
1996 Passat TDI 225,000-sold
1996 E300 120,000-sold
1998 Jetta TDI 186,000 -sold
1983 Chev Suburban C20 6.2-sold

The '96 differs greatly from the '95.

There is no fan relay in your car. There is a module, either in the fusebox or behind the left headlight, depending on the build date and/or what services have been performed to the car since new.

To test the fan, with the key in position 2, press and hold both AUTO buttons on the N22 pushbutton control unit for >10 seconds. This puts the fans in full-speed mode.

If something is wrong with your fan circuit, you will see that the motor "pulses" about every six seconds. The pulsing is the fan module trying to start the fan. If the wrong electrical signature is seen, the start attempt is aborted and restarts in six seconds.

What could be wrong? Your fan motor could be bad. Ensure that it turns very freely when you turn the protruding part of the fan blade by hand (the right side should turn at the same time). If not, that's your problem. If so, it's either the motor or the control module or both.

Do NOT buy a fan motor from any ebay sellers. You MUST use the OEM motor for this application, or it will fail to start either immediately or shortly after installation.

Thanks Matt for the very useful info.

I checked the movement of the fan at lunch and it spins ok. When turning it by hand you can her a slight noise like the bearings are bad, so I am thinking it is the fans. I will test it out tonight per you advice and see.

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1999 E300 TD 190,000
1996 Passat TDI 225,000-sold
1996 E300 120,000-sold
1998 Jetta TDI 186,000 -sold
1983 Chev Suburban C20 6.2-sold

Can you jump them directly to the battery? I know you can on the 126 and 123.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

thats what I was wondering- That way I would know if it is the fans or the module

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1999 E300 TD 190,000
1996 Passat TDI 225,000-sold
1996 E300 120,000-sold
1998 Jetta TDI 186,000 -sold
1983 Chev Suburban C20 6.2-sold

If you jumper the fan to the battery (BE SURE TO DISCONNECT THE MODULE), and it doesn't run, the fan is bad. If it does run, you have no useful information.

As I said before, you don't have a fan relay. The fan is run on pulses to vary its speed; no resisters are used in this design.

The fact that you saw the fan "twitch" tells me that the fan itself may be bad. The only way to really know for sure is by substitution.

Matt - Are there other AC diagnostics you know of other than the flap, error, actual value and fan motor tests???

I wasn't aware of the fan motor test previously.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)