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a-c fan doesn't turn off, drains battery

on our '97 960 wagon, a fan or fans related to the a-c doesn't turn off when you remove the ignition key and step away from the car. hours later you return to the car and a fan or fans are still whirring in the engine compartment. this does not seem to be the radiator fan. after a day or two of this, of course, the car battery is too weak to turn-over the engine. the a-c was recently recharged by a neighborhood mechanic, raising suspicion that something got cross-wired or otherwise messed with. any thoughts? many thanks. art

Reply to
Art McGinn
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You might ask the mechanic to put it right.

Reply to
Roadie

took it to a different one today and he, for $138, was unable to find any problem with his battery of diagnostic equipment. he will, nevertheless and i am sure, cash the check.

Reply to
Art McGinn

I don't know about the '97 960 but on my '01 S80 the cabin fan comes on about an hour after you shut off the engine and runs for a period of time to dry the condensation off the evaporator. This is intended to stop smells from mold etc. in the a/c system. I have never had the battery go flat from this; it only does it once per engine cycle. If you shut down and there is a fan running it most likely is the electric fan for the radiator cooling it down. This should also shut off after a short time.

If your battery is going down maybe it is time to have it replaced?

Reply to
Allen

just a guess, but when the first mechanic recharged your AC system, he probably had to bypass the low-pressure switch in order to force the compressor to run and pull in the refrigerant, until the pressure built up a little... in the past, I've done this on cars using a simple jumper wire, but perhaps he did something different, and forgot to un-do it when he was finished...

Reply to
Perry Noid

perry: interesting. will contact him about that. it does, indeed, seem that a switch is or was malfunctioning during a streak of very hot weather here. would not that have shown-up during a later inspection w/diagnostic equipment? thanks. art

Reply to
Art McGinn

I was thinking that he might have run a wire from the (+) terminal of the battery directly to the compressor clutch, to force it to pump even if the pressure in the system was too low... that would allow it to pull in the refrigerant and become pressurized enough that the jumper wire wasn't needed. However, he might have forgot to remove it, and since the compressor clutch and the electric fan in front of the radiator are energized together, that might be the problem you are having now.... the combination would certainly drain a battery fast!....

Reply to
Perry Noid

perry: very interesting. will investigate. art

Perry Noid wrote:

Reply to
Art McGinn

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