Cooling fan

[mreid63]

Hello all, 1st time Citroen owner here, just got myself a 58 plate Berlingo, happy with it so far. Can anyone tell me when the radiator cooling fan should kick in, I have yet to see it operate even when the car is up to temp, I read somewhere that you can short the wires to the temp sensor to prove the fan operates, where do I locate this sensor? is this ok to do? I want to prove the fan works before I poke about with relays etc

[Col]

Don't go looking for problems you may not have. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
If it gets up to temp and the gauge doesn't go up into the "hot zone", then the engine isn't getting to the fan thresehold anyway.
Given where you live, I guess it's faily cold now, and I suspect you don't get stuck in traffic much, so I would think this is the case.
The sequence of events are..... The coolant will flow around engine and heater circuit from start up. As the engine reaches operating temp, the themostat will start to open and allow water to flow around radiator. The natural flow of air through the radiator while driving along should cool the system down. As the system cools, the 'stat will start to close thus shuting off circulation through the rad. As the temp starts to rise the stat will open a bit more to allow circulation.
It is this constant cycling of the thermostat that maintains your steady temp.
If the temp continues to rise with the stat fully open, eventually the fan will cut in to bring temp back down.

At this time of year with the heater on, that will also act as a radiator, I doubt it is getting hot enough for the fan to cut in.
Our fan rarely comes on even in summer unless we get caught in traffic for a while.

You don't say whether it's a petrol or diesel, but diesels take longer to warm up.
Fan cuts in around 95-100 degrees (not sure of exact figure, but someone else may know if you are still worried about it)

[ians_lingo]

mines a 58 plate and I've NEVER had it come on and it does 90k a year,often sat crawling in traffic ..

[Jed Clampit]

Hello mreid63 welcome to the forum The best thing to do when your at home with some time on your hand's start the berlingo or when you've just got home turn the heater to cold and the engine is up to running temp sit with the engine ticking over and wait for the fan to kick in or it get's to the point of over heating if it kick's in if not look at the sensor and wiring going to it test the fan it self to see if it run's

[mreid63]

Thanks for the replies, I guess I'll go with the 'if it ain't broke' line

[JohnM]

They don't come on until the engine gets really hot.