Re: 89 Escort radiator fan runs when car is off

and it is normal for it to run as described, ever since the 1st VW Rabbit.

--Loren

Okay, but the water is not circulating with the engine driven water pump not turning. The fan blows on the heat shield of the exhaust manifold, not doing much to cool the engine in 5 minute of run time. John

We have already established that fan does sometimes run after engine is turned off on some vehicles so I don't need to go there..... OK maybe you should get your fan switch checked out as well as your engines thermostat. If you say your engines running 5 minutes and getting so hot already you may be having a cooling system problem in that fan switch (89 european escort has one) or more modern temperature sensor which tells the engine management to keep fan running for a while, is faulty. The other simple fault could be a sticking thermostat which would cause engine to get real hot quickly. Other reasons for engine getting hot real quick in regards to cooling system is faulty water pump, blocked hoses (rare) and a classic but "nice" fault is a blocked heater element, depending on what engine you have in your escort (depending on model etc different cooling systematics) you could have problems with this and may have to get the element flushed .... but coming back down to earth.... these are the more extreme cases... get the "little" things checked out first.... fan switch, fan relays, electrical wiring, thermostat...

~~~rabimec~~~

The temperature sensor is located on the manifold near the thermostat. It measures the water temperature as it exits the block and returns to the radiator. When the engine stops the water stops circulating, thus the water in the block actually gets hotter. The water in the chambers around the cylinders absorbs the heat from the cylinder walls and has no place to trasfer the heat. Therefore, the temperaure sensor detects the rise in temperature and turns on the fan blower. I not sure what your are talking about when you say the fan blows on the heat shield of the exhaust manifold. But the exhast manifold is probably one of the hottest points on you engine.

-- javatek?@usa.com

Makes sense.

I said this because it is between the fan and engine block and it blocks a lot of the cooling air from blowing over the engine.

Anyhow, It was much cooler today and the fan did not come on after I shut off the engine, so I assume it is operating normally as another poster though maybe it had a problem.

I wonder why none of my other cars did this. They have working AC and they seemed to get much hotter under the hood. (sorry, I'm just courious)

I believe that a lot of cars these days with electric fans are wired to come on when you turn the AC on. So a car with a working AC will run cooler than a car that the AC does not work on. It seems that when you switch on the AC you put more load on an engine and it should run hotter. But the fan comes on and stays on as long as the AC in on. In the case that you don't turn on the AC, then the fan will not come until the temp sensor reaches a certain temp and will cycle off after the temp drops below the threshold. So a car with working AC will run cooler because the fan always runs.

Replace your battery. It should be able to start the vehicle with the fan running.

I find it weird, too, that some Escorts have the fan that stays running after the key is off, and others shut the fan off and keep it off when the key is off.

I've had a 85, 86, 87, and 88 escort. The '85 and '88 escorts had fans that came (and stayed) on with the key off. The '86 and '87 did not. (Never boiled over either...)

The only thing with the 2 that had the fans that stayed on with the key off is that they had autommatic transmissions, where the ones with "fan always off" when the key is off was a stick-shift.

I have heard of Escorts with standard shift transmissions and fans that stay on with the key off.

Hell, I don't know. I just know it's normal on some cars.

Replace that battery.