Hi all,

Question is as above really. It's for an 04 Fiesta Flame with 1.4 Duratec engine. The fan is on as soon as we start the car and the whole time driving, though it goes off as soon as the engine does. On opening the bonnet the only part that feels hot is the one circled in the image.

What is this?! It's obviously too complicated for them to put in the owner's manual as it's not labelled in there, and I can't find a haynes for this engine. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what is to be done?

Cheers for your help :)

That's the alternator.

Do you have aircon and is it switched on when you turn the car on as that will bring the fan on. If not and the fan comes on when the car is cold the fan switch maybe faulty. If you can find the fan switch unplug it and see if the fan stops.

Yes the aircon is switched on... but always has been and the fan has not always been on. The aircon unit did have a leak about a year ago, but probably that is unrelated.

I will see if the fan still comes on without aircon on. Do you recon then that it coming on while aircon is on is normal? Is it normal for the alternator to be hot to the touch, even after only 10mins of driving? If it's still on without aircon on where should the fan switch be and/or what should it look like?

Cheers

Fan switch allocation I' don't know sorry,

The alternator will get hot as it's spinning and also attached to the engine, aslong as it's not unusually noisey it should be ok

With the aircon on it will turn the fan on when it needs to, turn the AC off then if the fan comes on straight away look into locating the fan switch.