OK, so the new tech I found wired my fans so that they run as soon as the key is turned and only go off when I shut the engine down. His claim was that the engines run hot and that's how he's always done his HP Mopars. But, I just read the excert below from a Google search, so now it has me concerned that I should have the relays reconnected and only have the fans on at certain temp?
What do you guys think? Is it not good to have the fans running all the time? Will it kill my battery? Other damage as suggested in the article? Thanks, John
Input or a signal from the coolant temperature sensor and also the vehicle speed sensor determine when the fan needs to be on and off. Most technicians do not know these circuits and what they resort to is looping the cooling fan direct and run them all the time and as soon as you put on the ignition switch the fans are on. That is not right but can be done as emergency to get off the road to the workshop. Having your cooling fans running all the time has got two major effects that could prove costly.
• The first one is over-cooling an engine is very bad because there is no room or allowance for expansion which results into great wear of, most especially, the engine block and piston rings.
• The battery service life is shortened because the battery is meant to store electrical energy that is used when the engine is not running. When the cooling fans run all time they always drain voltage from the battery as it is charged. This stresses the battery and makes it weaker and weaker.
• The cooling fans too are stressed by the constant running. It wears out the contact brushes and the over-heating of the fan armature which sometimes leads to burning of the field windings.
If your cooling fans are running all time when you turn on the ignition switch then you need to fix it very fast. If not, you could be buying a battery in the next few months. In a worse case, your car will start to smoke due to wear and its fuel consumption will slightly rise
What do you guys think? Is it not good to have the fans running all the time? Will it kill my battery? Other damage as suggested in the article? Thanks, John
Input or a signal from the coolant temperature sensor and also the vehicle speed sensor determine when the fan needs to be on and off. Most technicians do not know these circuits and what they resort to is looping the cooling fan direct and run them all the time and as soon as you put on the ignition switch the fans are on. That is not right but can be done as emergency to get off the road to the workshop. Having your cooling fans running all the time has got two major effects that could prove costly.
• The first one is over-cooling an engine is very bad because there is no room or allowance for expansion which results into great wear of, most especially, the engine block and piston rings.
• The battery service life is shortened because the battery is meant to store electrical energy that is used when the engine is not running. When the cooling fans run all time they always drain voltage from the battery as it is charged. This stresses the battery and makes it weaker and weaker.
• The cooling fans too are stressed by the constant running. It wears out the contact brushes and the over-heating of the fan armature which sometimes leads to burning of the field windings.
If your cooling fans are running all time when you turn on the ignition switch then you need to fix it very fast. If not, you could be buying a battery in the next few months. In a worse case, your car will start to smoke due to wear and its fuel consumption will slightly rise