Electric Fan Not Turn On

[yeyoracer]

Hi friends.

I write from Panama (in central america)
My Legnum VR-4 TT when I driving in hard conditions, or very slow, inclusive when i driving to the mountains the car run hot . I see , that the electric fan not turn on, only with the air condition is turn on. (2 electric fans)

We change a part number MD337408 (electric thermo switch), ubicated in the upper of the engine. change too a thermostato but the problem it´s the same.

S.O.S help me....

thanks so much....

[michaeli]

Mmmmmm... Don't know what to tell you, loose connection maybe??

The only other way to counteract this is to wire the electric fan to a switch and turn it on whilst driving, it would be constantly on but would solve the fan not coming on automatically...

just a thought...

Mike

[yeyoracer]

the elect. mechanics see all the conectors , fuse, contacts and all it´s ok.
I dont know, but in the rear part of radiators, there are a silver metal box, The Mechanics say : The silver box have the control for the electric fans turn on/off..

what say you? I dont Know......! :rolleyes4

[Nick VR4]

Is the car actually overheating ?

[yeyoracer]

the car overheating when I drive very fast or very slow without air condition
I turn on the A/C and the electric fan turn on the temp gauge is normal (-1/2)

the gauge not come on to red line......

I think the electric fan not turn on with high force ( very slow)......

thanks Nick vr-4

[Pizza]

My car overheated last night in a big way. I had just finished a hard run and stopped at a shop to buy something. I set the timer for 8 mins and left the car. Came out to see steam shooting out from every available opening under the bonnet. The cause I found out was that the fans did not come on when the turbo timer was engaged. What I did'nt realize at the time since it was dark that the pressure from theheat cracked the entire top of the radiator. These darn plastic top ones.

Anyway when I bypassed the the timer (Apexi) and turned the car on the fans spun and cooled things off. I checked the oil and it seemed okay. I decided to take the car home. On the way home started to hear the clacking sound that I associate with overheating or is it detonation but the temp gauge was on half the whole time. Just before I got home the car finally shut off and again steam bellowed. Only this time the car would turn over but shut off after about 2 seconds.

Had to tow the car home. My mechanic theorizes that with no coolant in the system the oil was forced to cool the engine and it boiled and may have destroyed the head gasket. Hopefully there is no cylinder wall damage or piston damage. Never saw the car smoking on the way home. We wont know for sure what is what until he pulls the engine.

Any ideas ?

[Bahama Dreamz]

yeyoracer you own one of the very few vr-4's in Panama right if not then the only one in Panama at all right?? my friend Pancho told me all about you. he is from Panama and when i told him i had and a VR-4 he started talking about a guy in Panama with one..

[Kieran]

Hmmm.... Like Mike says - it's a bit of guesswork. The fans never spin fast when my car is sat idling - unless the A/C comes on - they always seem to rotate slowly. Having read

If they're not spinning at all - then it could be a lot of things.

If you can't get to the bottom of it, then you could use a fan controller - wire it to your coolant temperature sensor and your fan circuit - several manufacturers make them, here's the HKS and the Pivot versions:

http://store.racinglab.com/hksfanco4.html

http://store.racinglab.com/pifancowtedi.html

[GroundControl]

My car overheated last night in a big way. I had just finished a hard run and stopped at a shop to buy something. I set the timer for 8 mins and left the car. Came out to see steam shooting out from every available opening under the bonnet. The cause I found out was that the fans did not come on when the turbo timer was engaged

I had exactly this problem myself, under turbo timer the fan doesn't engage - although thankfully I only boiled it and didn't run it dry or do any permanent damage. Now that I'm aware of it I'm a bit more careful and will leave it running with the key on instead. Should really take it back to the people that installed the turbo timer and get them to fix it...

[bradc]

I remember that Sam, that was quite a scary moment wasn't it? You need to get your turbo timer setup on the other side of the ignition so that your car keeps its fans on when running on the turbo timer. Sorry to hear about that Pizza, hopefully no expensive damage has been done.

Back on topic, Yeyoracer - I was told by Ralliart here that the temperature sensors are kind of funny and sometimes it seems like they aren't making the fans spin at all, yet the engine can be running quite warm, they didn't know what it was at the time that caused it, my car was overheating and so far the radiator cap, and thermostat have been changed as well as the top tanks were resealed and replaced.

My theory is that the water pump mightn't be doing it's job that well at all and that the pump simply isn't moving the hot water to the radiator quick enough. The radiator fans aren't going because the water in the radiator isn't that hot, yet the water in the engine is very hot.

In my car I can get it to overheat in 3-4 minutes of hard driving, even with both fans going. I will get my water pump upgraded soon, and hopefully that will fix the problem.

I would suggest you look at the water pump, another option is simply connect both fans straight up to a 12v supply from the battery, and force them to run in full mod, then go for a bit of a drive and see if that fixes the problem, but I think it might be your water pump.

[Pizza]

Thanks for the input guys. Will have to wait a few more days to find out the extent of things.

I had someone suggest this scenario also.

"I have seen a case before where the coolant level was so low that the temperature sensor was measuring air teperature inside the thermostat housing and not coolant. The result being that the gauge showed the temperature being okay and the fans did not get the signal to come on."

[Pizza]

Okay news sounding bad. Did a compression test and the reading from the back cylinders is way down. I definately need to buy head gaskets and probably rings. Hoping Pistons are okay and i'm reading some scary stuff on this site about valves being bad. Problem is that i've called everywhere here in Jamaica including the Mitsubishi dealers and nobody has head gasket, piston, rings or even radiator for this thing.

Can someone tell me a company that I can order the OEM pistons and rings and head gasket?. I will need it to be shipped here. Thanks.

[Pizza]

Tell me can the Evo 4 psitons and rings or any Evo for that matter work with this car. i have no clue what to do about the head gaskets.

[bradc]

no they won't, you will need to get VR-4 specific parts unfortunately. At least it looks like you are on your way to fixing the problem

[Pizza]

Okay Update. Some good news Thank God. Pistons, rings and cylinder walls all A-OK :thumbsup: The tripple metal head gasket was not broken but showed slight and early signs of some blow by or burning on the corner of one main cylinder and the cylinder beside it exactly where the low compression readings were coming from. The head also had the slight burn mark so air was getting by.

head was machined down slightly which revealed that it was slightly warped or uneven. Nothing major and it was a easy correction. Head is being put back together now along with new valve spring covers. Valves were cleaned and reseated. Noticed while the engine was pulled up that an engine mount needed to be changed. I swear I could not feel a thing. Car idled, shifted and felt smooth.

I also replaced the thermostat and knock sensor as the the old knocksensor wire was showing signs of serious heat damage. Tape literally crumpled in your hands. Will be changing plugs, filter and running a 20-50 oil for a week or so to clean out the old burnt oil sludge and deposits. Will then change filter and run a better synthetic oil.

So far things look very good and moving smoothly. Cant be more thankful that it was nothing serious. :chugchug:

[Pizza]

By the way how much do those little valve spring covers cost in England? I needed a dozen and it cost me £52.55. Yes pounds sterling for these pencil size rubbers :rolleyes4

[Pizza]

Okay i'm really at a loss now folks. The car has been checked and double checked. Had a Mitsubishi specialist with his diagnostic machine check the car over. Found that the crank angle sensor was bad. I changed it and the car reads good on all mechanical and electrical points and STILL THE CAR WONT START. It turns over and shuts off after a second. The car is getting fuel so what else can it be. Could the ECU be fried after an over heating incident? The Mitsu tech said he saw two error codes on the ecu and he reset it and all was reading okay after that but what could really be the problem? I'm at my whits end and my mechanics are at a loss. There is no apparent reason for the car not to be starting but it isnt.

Please someone help with some ideas please. Are there any fuses that would keep it from starting even though the starter and engine cranks? The fuses all appear to be okay but maybe it's not an obvious fault. Could the grounding be at fault?.