Radiator Fan Motor Intermittently Failing

Overheating an aluminum engine is even more expensive. Do the repair soon.

You really don't want a dealer doing this repair- they're required to use new parts, so it would be very expensive. But the good news is that any mechanic can swap radiator fans.

Cheapest fix is probably a used fan assembly taken from a junkyard/recycler installed yourself. Next cheapest would be the same work done by the neighborhood mechanic.

 

You're heading into the cold season. So that fan won't matter that much Yes if you wanted to you can tap on it every time you start the car tap on it with a light metal object and you'll probably knock the carbon pieces around enough to where it'll stay running for another year probably and cycle on and off without much to do. And it's not a very expensive repair actually your teenager can probably do it or what have you It's actually a very easy repair one of the easier ones you'll get on this model car.

 

Welcome!!!
As long as one fan is fully operational, your good. While not ideal, you'll usually need that secondary fan in 95+ degree weather, plus stop and go traffic or long runs up the mountain @ less than 30 mph, with the AC running. As long as the car is moving, (ie: 35 mph); there's a 35 mph breeze going through your radiator - that's usually enough to keep the engine happy. If your not sure, turn off the AC, that will reduce the cooling load on the car, switch the HVAC to manual control - to prevent the AC from automatically turning on. These modern, efficient engines don't really generate as much heat as the old ones.

A replacement fan assembly ranges from <$75 on ebay and up to >$150+ on Rockauto. The replacement should take about an hour to hour and a half, can be done at any general auto repair facility. It's a fairly simple and straight-foward job.

Both cooling fans was dead in my friends Honda CRV. According to him, his wife has been complaining that the temperature gauge has been going over the mid-way point for the past 3 years - and sometimes the AC would blow warm air. That would go away in the winter, but the issue would return when summer temperatures got over 100 degrees. I knew it was at least one dead cooling fan, right away. He didn't believe me, so we unplugged each fan and jumped it directly to the battery. To his surprise, both was inop....

Hope this helps...

 

Umm, not so much? Unlike most cars there just isn't enough clearance between the fans and everything else in the engine bay to just unbolt them and move them in or out. From the videos I have seen the radiator needs to be at least tilted forward, if not removed entirely, and in many scenarios it would need to be drained and refilled. Getting the air out of this car's cooling systems takes quite a long time. So, yes, any mechanic could do it, but it might take a while.

 

I believe @pasadena_commut is right. In the shop where I sometimes help out, they always pull the whole radiator to replace the fans. It must not be too hard to do because I think getting the intake ducts and the intake manifold out of the way looks like it should work and I've had those out dozens of time. I just haven't done a rad yet.

 

That fan motor is bad and not reliable. Any time the system tries to turn it on, it might work, or it might not.

In the vey short term you can live with it (I would not use A/C). However, I would plan on repairing soon. Why? - because the other fan is the same age and has had the exact same use. The only way you would know if both fans went out was that the A/C went warm (because pressures shot through the roof) &/or the engine overheated.



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