Radiator fan problem

Hi,
I have a 2002 olds Intrigue. about 2 months ago the water pump broke down and leaked . my uncle is a mechanic and he replaced the water pump . he told me that he thinks there is no or very little effect on head gasket or engine.
car is running fine, the niddle of heat gauge on the dashboard is between 25% and 50 % of heat while car is moving, and shows about 55% when car stops at a signal, and goes back to less than 50 % when car is moving.
the probelm is when car is ON but not moving for couple of seconds fan turns ON and I can feel the vibration of it like its running full speed.
and it stays ON for about a minute after the car is turned OFF. I can hear the noise of the fan even if the hood is closed.
and if I turn ON the car after say about 1/2 hour, I can't here the sound or feel the vibration.
I think It only happens when niddle on temp gauge crosses 50 % mark .
car doesn't overheat . no effect on the mileage.
plz help me with this
thanks in advance

I had a similar issue with my 02 a few months ago. I changed out the Dex-cool and so far it has all gone back to normal. Hope this helps.

Hi,
I have a 2002 olds Intrigue. about 2 months ago the water pump broke down and leaked . my uncle is a mechanic and he replaced the water pump . he told me that he thinks there is no or very little effect on head gasket or engine.
car is running fine, the niddle of heat gauge on the dashboard is between 25% and 50 % of heat while car is moving, and shows about 55% when car stops at a signal, and goes back to less than 50 % when car is moving.
the probelm is when car is ON but not moving for couple of seconds fan turns ON and I can feel the vibration of it like its running full speed.
and it stays ON for about a minute after the car is turned OFF. I can hear the noise of the fan even if the hood is closed.
and if I turn ON the car after say about 1/2 hour, I can't here the sound or feel the vibration.
I think It only happens when niddle on temp gauge crosses 50 % mark .
car doesn't overheat . no effect on the mileage.
plz help me with this
thanks in advance

Something is wrong.. When you come to a signal the temperature gauge should not increase unless you just climbed up an 8% grade for 10 miles and the outside temperature is 90F.

You might have a pocket of air trapped inside the engine. The cooling system should be bleed. Another possibility is that there is not enough coolant in the system.

The fan running after you turned off the ignition sounds normal to me. Probably the fan sensor is detecting an over-heating situation.

I wouldn't say that anything is seriously wrong unless your temp gauge is climbing to half way between 1/2 and the 3/4 mark. It is common for the temp to go up a little after sitting still, as air is not being forced over the engine. The fans kick in to do just that.

Now it is possible that something is off, because the fans don't generally come on unless the A/C is on or your temperature goes above 220 F (I think). While that is not a dangerous temp, the fans do their best to keep the aluminum block below that so that the head gasket doesn't warp or peel.

I've never had my fans stay on after the car is off, but that will happen if the temp is over a certain point. As others have said, check your coolant level. Also, is it Dexcool? If so, make sure there is no gunk/brown stuff in it. If its not Dexcool, flush your system and have it filled with Dexcool, as green coolant can corrode the aluminum block.

The fans staying on after the engine is off isnt entirely unheard of, but I agree its not normal. But even the underhood warning clearly states that the fans can kick on even when the engine is not running.

It does sound like your coolant is low or you have air pockets as others have stated. In my personal experience, this time of year especially, my temperature gauge doesnt fluctuate much at all, it doesnt during the summer either. The only time I have problems is very cold mornings while running the heat for a very long time, but thats from the defective thermostat housing on the 99-00 models, which shouldnt be a worry for you.

Intrigues tend to run hot in the cold.

They only solution to this has been a fan set-up:http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=747798&page=2&highlight=overheating

Since your Dex-Cool was 5yrs old it was probably a great time to change and go to the Universal (DexCool approved) stuff.

My vote is that you didn't bleed the system properly or you have more coolant corrosion issues(like the collant pump failure). I would give your car a month to bleed out that air and most likely the problem will go away. (the coolant resevoir sits fairly high and the air should escape)

phewop118,

The fans are not there to cool the engine by blowing air over the engine. If it were an air cooled engine such as a volkswagen or corvair, yes, that would be the case. The fans are there to cool the coolant in the rad and the condensor for the AC which is usually mounted in front of the rad.

I wouldn't say that anything is seriously wrong unless your temp gauge is climbing to half way between 1/2 and the 3/4 mark. It is common for the temp to go up a little after sitting still, as air is not being forced over the engine. The fans kick in to do just that.

Now it is possible that something is off, because the fans don't generally come on unless the A/C is on or your temperature goes above 220 F (I think). While that is not a dangerous temp, the fans do their best to keep the aluminum block below that so that the head gasket doesn't warp or peel.

I've never had my fans stay on after the car is off, but that will happen if the temp is over a certain point. As others have said, check your coolant level. Also, is it Dexcool? If so, make sure there is no gunk/brown stuff in it. If its not Dexcool, flush your system and have it filled with Dexcool, as green coolant can corrode the aluminum block.


thanks for the reply , yues i have DExcool and the coolant level is uptoe the fill mark.

Fan doesn't bother me only thing is that i can feel the vibrations from fan while i am driiving .

I never had the fans On before my water pump broke down.
may be there is air in the system how can i take it out.

Do you have a copy of the owners manual? It shows how to do it in there.

phewop118,

The fans are not there to cool the engine by blowing air over the engine. If it were an air cooled engine such as a volkswagen or corvair, yes, that would be the case. The fans are there to cool the coolant in the rad and the condensor for the AC which is usually mounted in front of the rad.

you do realize you are talking to phewop the Intrigue beater = you better
go air-cooling just in case = get that second fan installed.

Something is wrong.. When you come to a signal the temperature gauge should not increase unless you just climbed up an 8% grade for 10 miles and the outside temperature is 90F.

You might have a pocket of air trapped inside the engine. The cooling system should be bleed. Another possibility is that there is not enough coolant in the system.

The fan running after you turned off the ignition sounds normal to me. Probably the fan sensor is detecting an over-heating situation.


thanks for the reply .

i checked for the bleeder valve could not find it i asked someone and he said in 2002 intrigue there is an aut bleed valve and the sytem bleeds on it own if there is air in the system . he said you can not bleed the coolant manually.

another thing i noticed is that when put the car in Park after driving the niddle rises to slightly above the half mark . if i give it some gas and increase the RPM to 1500 or 2000 the temperatute niddle drops quickly to below half . what i mean to say is it drops quickly than it rises.

is this because the fan speed depends on RPM . or there is something else going ON.

also i think there is a small amount of coolant leaking from somewhere close to the water pump its very minor . i will take it to my uncle on saturday. he will fix it. Coolant level is always upto the fill line i mean i keep adding the coolant. i have to put an ounce or two every three weeks.

thanks again

There is no automatic bleed system. There is a manual bleeder on the radiator on the right hand side of the rad facing rearward.

I am not sure what you mean about a "niddle rises to slightly above the half mark". Not sure what a "race paddle" is neither.