mstager Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 My car over heated tonight while I was waiting for my wife to get off work. Popped the hood and coolant was bubbling out of the radiator cap and the temp gauge was spiked to the red level. I did notice that the fan never turned on with and without the car running. I went home and replaced the relay with one in my other 850 and still no fan. The blades move freely and when I turned the A/C on still no fan. What is the problem? is my fan bad??? I need to get this fixed ASAP. I am already down a car cuz my 95 850 needs a new motor and I just bought this 97 850R. The 850R has now 170K in it. This is the first time Ive had any issues with this car. Please help me out ASAP thanks...By the way I love being a member to this forum you all are super knowledgeable and have great advise. mjstager@yahoo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdlc Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I was able to easily test my fan by giving it 12V directly from battery, iirc there are three leads and the common/ground is fairly easy to identify. Tried the low and then the high setting/speed and both run. If unsure, post back and maybe someond could identify the leads for you exactly. Assuming the fan works, I would replace the CTS just below the thermostat housing, it is in fact called Auxiliary Fan Switch in FCP groton site. You have to drain some coolant from the radiator until you have collected about 3 qts, clean the nipple on the driver under the radiator if you wish to re-use the coolant and collect the coolant in a container. Avoid two pitfalls for this job: 1) Use quality torx to remove the thermostat housing - rounding this of can mean a lot of aggrevation 2) Do not overtighten the plastic nipple on the radiator, they can break because of ageAssuming you will get your parts from the dealer (CTS aka IAT SENSOR part# 9186486 - it should come with aluminum gasket and cost around $40 from the dealer), you might as well get a thermostat and gasket (I used 90deg for my 98 V70NA and 87deg from my 94 850 Turbo Wagon and I live in CT where it can get cold in winter), and also get two improved housing bolts for 50 cents each part# 986228.I hope you didn't damage your car and that the CTS is the only issue. Good luck.My car over heated tonight while I was waiting for my wife to get off work. Popped the hood and coolant was bubbling out of the radiator cap and the temp gauge was spiked to the red level. I did notice that the fan never turned on with and without the car running. I went home and replaced the relay with one in my other 850 and still no fan. The blades move freely and when I turned the A/C on still no fan. What is the problem? is my fan bad??? I need to get this fixed ASAP. I am already down a car cuz my 95 850 needs a new motor and I just bought this 97 850R. The 850R has now 170K in it. This is the first time Ive had any issues with this car. Please help me out ASAP thanks...By the way I love being a member to this forum you all are super knowledgeable and have great advise. mjstager@yahoo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 850T-5 Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I'd definately not even mess around, just replace the ECT/CTS as mentioned and thermostat. Use a good, brand name torx bit as mentioned like craftsman, leslie or snapon or you will be sorry and strip the the torx screws for the housing. +1 to the new spare torx screws for the housing. I would also just replace the cooling fan relay anyway unless the date code stamped in white on the side of the cooling fan relay is fairly recent as if it's already been replaced. They are known to be begin failing around 100K. While youre at it also replace the coolant resevior cap, they can go bad over the years and fail to maintain pressure. Probably not your problem but I'd replace that too. All of these things even at the dealer if they give you a decent deal on these parts shouldn't cost more than $125 and is worth it to prevent damage to your engine. If the date code is fairly new on the side of the cooling fan relay, you probably don't need to bother with it either.I would knock all the possibilities and things related out before further testing to prevent damage and hopefully none was done. I would definately change the oil and filter immediately though after you fix the problem because overheating has a tendency to create sludge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlvinL Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Look for codes out of A2. These two will point to a faulty relay. 514 - Engine fan low speed515 - Engine fan high speedAlso, like Orleec suggested, jumper the fan directly from the battery to test if both fan speed works. Red for high speed, green for low speed.There is also a fusible link from the starter to a branching point that supplies power via the relay you can check. There should be 12V on that thick red wire at the relay.fan_typ.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstager Posted September 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I pulled the fan and relay from my other 850 and still not coming on. What and where is the ECT/CTS and what is it? My check engine light never came on either. How exactly do I check any of these things. I am at a loss and my Volvo mechanic wants me to bring it down and have them run a scan. He said that a OBDII scanner doesnt work well on Volvos. I am so worried to drive the car but am forced to because my family is down to only one car being that my 95 850glt motor died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlvinL Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 The ECT (Engine Coolant Temperature) sensor is beside/below the thermostat. Doubt it's that because if that fails, there would be a check engine light (with DTC A2 - 123).You don't need any special tools to get codes but must be willing to learn to read codes.http://volvospeed.com/CheckEngine.phphttp://volvospeed.com/Repair/a2.htmlRead over those two pages and plug into A2. There might be a bunch of old codes but read them all and post them up. Try clearing them and see what returns. If no codes, then troubleshoot farther to see if the fan has failed or if there is 12V power in the large red wire to the relay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdlc Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I pulled the fan and relay from my other 850 and still not coming on. What and where is the ECT/CTS and what is it? My check engine light never came on either. How exactly do I check any of these things. I am at a loss and my Volvo mechanic wants me to bring it down and have them run a scan. He said that a OBDII scanner doesnt work well on Volvos. I am so worried to drive the car but am forced to because my family is down to only one car being that my 95 850glt motor died.I'm new to 850's so I don't know if you can get a code if you don't have check emgine light. But our 98 V70 didn't throw a code when my CTS failed.Below is the link for CTS and thermostat write-up (with pix to guide you).http://volvospeed.com/Repair/thermect.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NW T5R Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I am actually having this same issue as the fan is not comming on when the engine gets warm then hot. The fan still comes on when the A/C swith is turned on. Untill the parts come in I am turning the A/C switch on when sitting in traffic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 850T-5 Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I would not be reliant on codes when it comes to this kind of stuff. I have seen several cooling fan relays fail with no codes ever, same thing with one CTS. Generally fan not coming on is due to CTS/ECT or cooling fan relay, one of those two items. They're not that expensive even from the dealer so unless you want to keep trying things one at a time risking engine damage, if the mileage is high it's good to replace them along with the thermostat as preventative maintenance. Are you sure the cooling fan comes on in your other Volvo when the A/C is turned off? Have you ever let it idle with the A/C off for a while? I wouldn't be surprised if that one was somehow bad too. I've seen several go bad under 100K, they suck. Even had a brand new OE unit from the dealer to repalce a faulty cooling fan relay, bad out of the box. If I didn't pay attention to the fan not coming on ever I would have been screwed. Well one relay did screw me and caused engine noise after it overheated on another Volvo I used to own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NW T5R Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Thanks for the heads up.Mitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlvinL Posted September 25, 2007 Report Share Posted September 25, 2007 My bad, I realize you're talking about your 97-850 so forget about checking for codes yourself.I hate throwing parts (unless they're free) until I can rule out the obvious and easy like testing the fan to see if that works WITHOUT the relay or ECU in the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_mstager_* Posted September 25, 2007 Report Share Posted September 25, 2007 How do I know if my other relay is bad or even how do I check the fan if either of them are bad. Should I just replace the damn ECT/TMS and see if that is the problem. The car does have 170k on it so Im sure that it wouldnt hurt to replace it..If I dont have a OBDII scanner how can I pull and read the codes? Like I said before my check engine light never came on to warn me of overheating. Car runs just fine and doesnt get hot until I come to a stop for a few minutes but the fan still doesnt come on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdlc Posted September 25, 2007 Report Share Posted September 25, 2007 "How do I know if my other relay is bad" Although not impossible that both your relay are bad, the chance is low imo. When you change the original relay with your spare relay and still no go, I would say it's not the relay. "how do I check the fan if either of them are bad"An extra set of hands would be helpful here. You run a pair of wires from your battery and 'jump' the fan by connecting neg-battery to gnd lead of the fan and the pos-battery to one of the other lead of the fan. If the fan runs, try connecting the pos-battery to the other lead of the fan, with the neg-battery still connected to the gnd-lead of the fan. If it runs, your fan is good. With the fan and the relay eliminated, the CTS is a good bet. Just folow the Bay13 write-up (http://volvospeed.com/Repair/thermect.php) and it should be fairly straight forward. It sounds intimidating but there really is nothing to it. If you review the write-up, you would see why replacing the other inexpensive parts (thermostat, bolts) is suggested.I don't think you can pull any codes if you don't have a check engine light on. How do I know if my other relay is bad or even how do I check the fan if either of them are bad. Should I just replace the damn ECT/TMS and see if that is the problem. The car does have 170k on it so Im sure that it wouldnt hurt to replace it..If I dont have a OBDII scanner how can I pull and read the codes? Like I said before my check engine light never came on to warn me of overheating. Car runs just fine and doesnt get hot until I come to a stop for a few minutes but the fan still doesnt come on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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