Dashboard Temperature Warning Light.

[jamesjay]

Hi Folks,

I need to give a full account of what happened with my 59 plate petrol Fiesta so you can give me the best advice so bear with me please.

 

Yesterday I was travelling to a friends about 14 mile away and got stuck in a traffic jam for about 10 minutes…there were some road works at a set of traffic lights ahead and the lights were only allowing 3 or 4 cars to pass before changing. After I was stuck for about 5 minutes I noticed the red temp light on the dash come on, because we were on a single lane road I switched the engine off until the next time we could move forward and the light didn’t come back on when I restarted the engine…but I kept turning the engine off and on until I had passed through the road works.

I pulled over as soon as I could and checked the water level which was ok and had a look for leaks, and the engine didn’t seem to be overheating, in December 2019 I had the timing and auxiliary belts, water pump, pulleys/tensioner replaced so was confident it was not lack of water and the air con was still working so I continued the 2 miles or so to my friends while keeping an eye on the dash and the red light never came on again.

 

Before I set off back home about 2 hours later I had a look over the engine again and tried to turn the electric motor fan blades and they would hardly move, as I done about 300 miles mainly on the motorway last week without any problems I decided to travel back keeping an eye on the dashboard, the road works had now gone so I wasn’t stuck in a tailback and no temperature warning lights came on the return journey. When I got home I left the car engine running to see if the fan was on or if it came on and it didn’t regardless of the fact it was still about 23 degrees and I had driven 14 miles.

 

I checked the fan again this morning and rotating it seems to have freed it off a bit, but I can still feel resistance at some points when turning the fan by hand and it is definitely not turning smoothly in fact there is one part of rotation when it feels like it is jamming. Am I right in presuming that the electric motor as more than likely gone and because I was stationary on a very hot day the fan couldn’t kick in so I got the dashboard warning light, I was going to jack the car up and attach a spare 12 battery to the motor terminals but as the fan is moving roughly decided to get some advice first.

 

I don’t think it is the sender as the warning light would probably be coming on all the time if it was faulty, as anyone changed or had problems with the motor fan and are they easy to replace…it doesn’t look to hard a job in the Hayes manual.

 

Again sorry for the long post but better to much in information than to little, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Kind regards,

James.  

[isetta]

Sounds like the temp light came on as it couldn’t cool because fan not working, sounds like fan is knackered but if mine I would also see if voltage is getting to fan. Some years ago I had similar problem with fan not coming on and it was a corroded wiring connector not the fan itself.   I also had a car where fan was stiff and I fixed it by oiling the fan spindle bearings but I don’t know if modern fans are more sealed to stop you doing that. But I wouldn’t buy a new fan without some more investigation

[jamesjay]

Thanks Isetta, l think the fact that the fan won't do a complete rotation without me feeling resistance and that l couldn't turn it the day before at my friends house is telling me that the motor is done for...l was hoping someone with a 2009  1.25 Feista would manually spin the fan on their car obviously with the engine cold and off and could confirm if it spins freely without any resistance and there is no tight spot in the 360 degree rotation.

 

[King683]

Hello, I'm someone with a 2009 1.25 fiesta, I've just been outside and spun the cooling fan 360 degrees a bit at a time as access as you know is a little bit restricted. My fan was able to be spun without any tight spots or resistance beyond the normal to be expected from the motor. 

[jamesjay]

Thank you King683,

That confirmed what l believed that the motor needs replacing l did use the car yesterday and didn't get a repeat of the dash board light coming on but wasn't in any tailbacks or traffic jams...l was also getting end float or back and forth movement when l checked it again yesterday.

Thanks for your help.

Kind regards,

James. 

 

[King683]

Hi can I assume that your fan has now been fixed and is now working as it's supposed to work.