Cooling fan stuck on?

The cooling fan is stuck on in my car and I'm bringing it in Friday to have it fixed, I assume it's a relay.

It all started when I could hear it engage for a few seconds when you first started the car.

Anyone else have a problem with the fan?

Mine comes on briefly when I start the car if the A/C is on.

Tom

I have a similar problem my fan are on all the time while the car is running an are extremely loud .I also notice that most of the time its just the left fan (driver's side) thats on. Ive taken it in to the dealer. They told me the fan relay switch was faulty an stuck open ,they replaced it (warrenty) .

BUT the loudness of the fans has not improved an its driving me nuts it ,the car is going back !! I hope this time they just replace the whole fan assembly.

Well, I'll find out tomorrow and report back on what they find.

I also noticed an oil stain on the floor this morning.

This just happened last weekend. Started the car up and the fan just kept going. It is loud enough to hear over low radio, and I thought it was the car next to me until I noticed the noise following me around. I have an appointment with the dealer on Saturday...hopefully they will be able to fix it. Knowing it's an issue for other's as well gives me a little ammo, so thanks for the post.

Good luck getting things straight. I'll report back what the dealer does/says.

Any idea if its possible to fix this with EcuTek tuning software?

I really can't drive my car in to the dealer anymore

Well, I dropped it off this AM and went to pick it up at 2:00pm like they said. Still not ready and they haven't pinpointed the problem. I waited for about an hour and they said they had a call in to the Suby tech line. Apparently they are going to replace the ECU but needed the green light form Suby.

They gave me an 05 Outback (N/A ) to drive for the weekend while they're fixing it.

I'm the guy who originally reported the problem here:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7403

Well guess what, just today my fan has started acting up again ( won't shut down ) even though my ecu was replaced a couple of months ago. Hmmm.. I don't like the looks of this, Subaru might be performing the wrong fix or they certainly don't got a handle on this problem. I'll definitely be calling the dealer tommorrow but the last time I brought my LGT in they kept it for three friggin days and eventually handed me a two page long service report ( they basically treated my car like a guinea pig and tried everything on it ). I don't think I want this happening again and I won't be stuck with a crappy replacement car either... grrrr... >=(

Another bit of bad news is that the 'defective' ecu will be sent back to SOC/SOA for analysis like mine was but I never checked back to see if it really was the culprit because I was so happy to get my car back and everything was running so nicely ( at least up 'till now ).

It looks like this problem may be more generalize than originally thought. Has anyone out there had a dealer come in with a different fix other than replacing the ecu? I don't think this is a viable solution.

I have decided to take a radical temporary step to solve the issue...

The Main fan fuse is now off!

Since temperatures here are still under 10 Celsius I am not concerned about overheating. I noticed there are two fans and was careful not to disturb the auxillary fan fuse. My fingers are crossed, hoping the AUX fan will start should temperature rise above a certain threshold. My trusty EGT gauge should also let me know if anything is going awry.

This gives me about 60 days until temperatures reach in the low 20 Celsius range and I need the main fan again.

I left a message for the folk at EcuTek, hoping they can do something about it. My tuning shop, Lachute Subaru, is also on the case.

I'm the guy who originally reported the problem here:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7403

 

Well guess what, just today my fan has started acting up again ( won't shut down ) even though my ecu was replaced a couple of months ago. Hmmm.. I don't like the looks of this, Subaru might be performing the wrong fix or they certainly don't got a handle on this problem. I'll definitely be calling the dealer tommorrow but the last time I brought my LGT in they kept it for three friggin days and eventually handed me a two page long service report ( they basically treated my car like a guinea pig and tried everything on it ). I don't think I want this happening again and I won't be stuck with a crappy replacement car either... grrrr... >=(

 

Another bit of bad news is that the 'defective' ecu will be sent back to SOC/SOA for analysis like mine was but I never checked back to see if it really was the culprit because I was so happy to get my car back and everything was running so nicely ( at least up 'till now ).

 

It looks like this problem may be more generalize than originally thought. Has anyone out there had a dealer come in with a different fix other than replacing the ecu? I don't think this is a viable solution.

Hearing this doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about having my ECU replaced.

I checked my service report and see that I first reported the problem at 20.5K kilometres and now have about 30.5K on the car so the fix barely lasted 10K kilometres. I distinctly heard the fan this morning every time the car idled at a stop or when I pulled up at work- always the same place, front driver side fan won't shut off. I'll be calling my dealer this morning ( John Scotti in Montreal ) to see how he intends to proceed. The last time he removed the ecu unit off another LGT in his lot and gave it to me, it could be both cars had a defective unit but the likelihood of that happening looks pretty remote to me. My bet is that there may be a voltage surcharge somewhere in the electronics that in the long run cripples the ecu.

I'm calling the dealer now and I'll keep you guys posted.

I checked my service report and see that I first reported the problem at 20.5K kilometres and now have about 30.5K on the car so the fix barely lasted 10K kilometres. I distinctly heard the fan this morning every time the car idled at a stop or when I pulled up at work- always the same place, front driver side fan won't shut off. I'll be calling my dealer this morning ( John Scotti in Montreal ) to see how he intends to proceed. The last time he removed the ecu unit off another LGT in his lot and gave it to me, it could be both cars had a defective unit but the likelihood of that happening looks pretty remote to me. My bet is that there may be a voltage surcharge somewhere in the electronics that in the long run cripples the ecu.

 

I'm calling the dealer now and I'll keep you guys posted.

It's possible that your new ECU came from the same batch as the one out of your car...would just be dumb luck, but certainly possible.

We just had our first car in with this problem yesterday...also ordered an ECU for it.

It's possible that your new ECU came from the same batch as the one out of your car...would just be dumb luck, but certainly possible.

 

We just had our first car in with this problem yesterday...also ordered an ECU for it.

Do you work for Subaru service dept? Is this something that, if I bring this in to my dealer, they will recognize that it's the ECU that needs to be replaced and not keep my car for a few days? Has there been some kind of service bulletin from Subaru regarding this problem?

I did a test at lunchtime ( albeit quite simple test ) and made the following observations:

a.) If I started the car wihout the A/C turned on, the radiator fan didn't turn on. ( I'll do more checks on this later tonight )

b.) If I started the car wihout A/C turned on and later turned it on, the radiator fan eventually turned on and would never stop no matter what I did to the controls

c.) If I started the car wih the A/C on, the radiator fan almost instantly turned on and would never stop no matter what I did to the controls

Outside temperature 11C

Cabin temp about 19C

A/C temp set at 18C

Hmm,

A) If I start the car with climate control off, the main fan (that's how its called) turns on and stays on forever

B) If I start the car with AC on, same thing

C) If I remove the fuse for AC start the car its OK!!!

So... it seems if I sacrifice AC I should no longer have the issue (which will be bad this summer)

I am surprised no one told me how completely insane I am for having removed the fuse for the main fan!

Since then, I noticed the aux. fan comes on after a long ride for a few secs then goes off. EGT is same as usual.

Is that main fan even required in temperate climates?

Dan, do you have any mods on the car?

The car is stock.

The first time I had my ecu replaced, my radiator's fan would also stay on no matter what I did but right now it seems well behaved so long as I keep the A/C off. I don't know if things are gonna degenerate further fromhere but regardless there is still a problem that needs addressing... summer is coming and I'll be hitting that A/C pretty hard so I need this issue resolved.

Do you work for Subaru service dept? Is this something that, if I bring this in to my dealer, they will recognize that it's the ECU that needs to be replaced and not keep my car for a few days? Has there been some kind of service bulletin from Subaru regarding this problem?

Yes, I'm a Subaru Service Advisor. There is currently not a TSB out concerning this condition and depending on your dealer, they may of may not have already had a car with this problem. The only reason I knew about the issue was from reading it here. Best bet is to convince your dealer to call the Subaru Tech Line first, before they do any troubleshooting. The Tech line is aware of the issue and will instruct them to replace the ECU as long as they can duplicate the concern.

Just took mine in because of this issue and I was told that it would take 6 effing weeks to get my ecu replaced!?!?!? Anyone else get told to wait this long??

They told me 2 weeks and it was okay to drive it.