Fan keeps running after shutting off!!

[la_teta]

hey guys, i searched and i came up with similar problems but no answers.
everything works fine and the fan turns on when its supposed to, just below the middle line on the temp gauge. the condenser fan also works fine and turns on when i turn the a/c on.

but when i park and turn the car off, the radiator fan continues to run for at least 15 mins, then shuts itself off. what can be the cause??? how do i fix it??
help is much appreciated

[LT1]

I just went threw this same problem not long ago. Is your car running hot?

The fan use to come on after i parked the car. My temperature kept going up and up, i ended up replacing my thermostat and it fixed the problem.

Car now runs perfect, temperature is below half way, and never hear the fan come on when its parked.

[HondaPartsHero]

at least 90-02 4 cylinder Accords have two fan switches. So it is normal for the fan to run even after the car is turned off. As long as your temp gauge is good and you're not low on coolant I wouldn't worry about it.

[Scudweiser]

this is normal, your car has a fan timer relay which allows the fan to run after the car is off for a certain amount of time if the coolant is hot enough.

[holmesnmanny]

Completely normal.

[joe_accord23]

15 mins isnt normal..check your gauges, coolant. ur engine might be running hotter than normal temp.

[la_teta]

the temp gauge is fine...just below half...and now it turns on and off randomly after the car is off
but now whats strange to me is that its the passenger side fan that stays on, which i thought was the condenser fan, correct me if im wrong. and the driver side won't come on at all..when i turn the a/c on the passenger side kicks on....all relays and fuses look good.
can it be a timer messing up

[brakedrum]

Say thanks to that feature everytime it kicks in. It helps cool and disapate the remaining high heat from a hard drive that would/could otherwise slowly cook your aluminum block. I like the look on peoples faces when my car "starts up" as I'm walking away from it.

[hatchet_honda]

man i have sooo many friends that ask this same thing about an accord they have had or have driven. lol normal...keeps your engine cool

[brakedrum]

If it's really hot and been driven some distance, especially in hilly areas, my fan will run on for quite a while, but it shuts off and restarts several times while it's doing the job.

[mister_two]

Had a similar problem with a toyota MR2 years ago. The fan would stay on after shutting off the car. In my case it STAYED on, I didn't wait to see how long it would stay on. Before I found out the problem I would unplug the fan to stop it. It turns out it was the relay. I had the service manual which instructed how to test the relay with a multimeter for ohms. A new relay fixed the problem.

[HondaPartsHero]

Proper operation: A number of Honda/Acura with an advance cooling system employ a fan timer system to offset the fragile aluminum head. The timer allows the fan to know when and how long the fan should operate. By switching the ignition off and the coolant temperature exceeds the boiling point the radiator fan will kick in. (However, both the condenser fan and the cooling fan will run when the A/C is on at any temperature.) The fan timer should run for about 15 minutes and 18 seconds if the engine temp is over 223F. If it is running greater than 15 minutes, or the fan going on/off randomly while the ignition is on or off then either the fan timer is bad, the fan relay, or perhaps there's a bad connection somewhere. If the fan timer system fail to turn on the fan, serious damage to the head and head gasket could occur some time in the future. If the fan runs every time you turn off the engine, you've probably plug the switch to the wrong sensor, the cooling system has poor coolant circulation, you're driving in a hilly terrain or it was just a hot day.

Problem: The fan runs continuously (longer than 19-minutes) when the key is removed. The symptom is a dead battery. The fan turns off only when the ignition is turn ON (not off, correction) and while the high temperature thermoswitch (108 degrees) is checked out okay then 90% chance the fan timer is bad. Usually happens to the 90-93 Accords. If the fan runs after removing the key on a cold engine then something could be wrong with the high temputure thermoswitch. After the key is removed and the engine cold and by plugging the high temperature thermoswitch back in and the fan runs then the high temperature thermoswitch is bad. (error in this section is spotted by a honda-tech.com member)

Solution: The reasonable solution is to replace the timer control unit. Before replacing the unit it would be prudent to troubleshoot. When the fan does not turn off after 15 minutes swap the cooling fan relays in the engine fuse compartment with another identical relay. If the fan refuses to turn off replace the fan timer unit.

Replacement: Remove the access panel on the driver's kick panel and search for a box way in there the size of two cigarette packs with 8-terminals. The 86-89 Accord fan timer unit is located under the passenger seat. Unbolt the unit and swap it with a new one.


Note: the fan timer location is a bit more to the right compared to this image. It's right next to the main relay like this image (as seen the main relay removal page.)

[adrbi]

I had the same problem turned out to be a faulty radiator cooling fan temp switch. One is located in the thermostat housing and the other is at the housing bolted to the front of the cylinder head where the top coolant hose runs from the radiator to the cylinder head. Hope this helps......