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re: repeated jump starting



"Daniel R. LeFebvre" <danbu99@bu.edu> writes:

>i think the after-run fan is draining an
>undue amount of power from my battery, and my short drives to work and
>back do not provide sufficient time to recharge the battery fully.  is
>there a way to stop the after-run effect of the fan and have it run only
>when the engine is running?  has anyone else suffered this problem and
>tried this rememedy?

Yep. BTDT. There's a thermal sensor that's supposed to allow the fan to run
only when the engine is hot. If the thermal sensor fails, the fan will
cycle every time you drive the car, not only when the car is hot. You
*want* the fan to run under these circumstances, so please don't disable it.

The problem I had is that the fan ran every time the engine was started,
even on short trips where the battery didn't have time to get recharged.
The PO never drove the car on short trips, so the problem didn't manifest
itself...as soon as I bought the car, my wife's driving patterns allowed
the failed sensor to cause a problem.

Simple test: With a *cold* vehicle, start it, let it run for 1 minute. Turn
it off. If the fan runs after the engine is shut off, the thermal sensor is
bad.

BTW, this is an unusual failure. In 1996, Audi told my mechanic that they
sold *one* of these sensors over the counter. To me.

HTH,

Lee