I've got a 96' WRX Import, is it normal for the cooling fan to be on as soon as you stop or are moving very slowly in traffic, even after not driving very hard it seems to be on when I get out of the car. The system is full of water and there are no warning lights or any increase in temp gauge reading (probably not very accurate anyway) car feels fine though.

Is this the norm or is the temp sensor giving up ?? Its also got a later model header tank, does this make any difference ??

Cheers.

 

Dont want to be telling you to suck eggs - but you aren't using you aircon by any chance are you ??

 

My UK MY96 does the same thing....I just let the car idle and allow the fans to finish their cycle before switching off the engine. It is a good idea to let a turbo'd engine idle for a while before switching off anyway.

 

The problem is...The longer you leave the engine ticking over..The hotter the engine gets.....The longer the fans stay on.......
I always let the car tickover for around 3-4 mins after a run,Then switch off after that...wether the fans are running or not....kev.

 

True but...
what you actually want is to cool the turbo down, and as it runs at quite a few degrees above what the engine does, it doesnt matter if your going to get heat soak or a slightly hotter engine, you just dont want to fry your turbo and the oil in it (thus idling down for 2 mins )

Tony

 

No the air-con was off, I checked to make sure, I also let the car run on the timer for at least a minute after, but the fan is sometimes on while the car has just stopped or moving slowly, is the sensor just very sensitive to any slight increase in water temp.

I plan on fitting a couple of SPA digital gauges, one of which will be a water temp which should give me a very accurate reading.

ps what do you think about having the later model header tank, make any diff ???

 

My prev WRX did this for a while and crazy as this may sound I found it to be a very dodgy Earth connection, this was after I had changed the coolant sensor,thermostat and flushed and replaced the coolant.