QuestionQUESTION: i have a 2000 ford windstar, purchased used 4 months ago, at that time the air was working fine, engine light came on a few weeks ago, thought it was just from the gas i had just purchased, then radiator fan was coming on when vehicle was started and running all the time, went off when vehicle turned off, not air not working as well, in a ford dealership right now, they ordered a pcm valve to the tune of 709$, did not fix problem, now looking for a wiring problem which they have spent one entire day on to the tune of 98$ hour, still no results, spent 2500$ on van and have two payments left, should i pursue this or just purchase another van and junk this one, thanks
ANSWER: as much as i hate it if i order and replace a part for a particular problem and that don't fix it-i take the part back off and customer doesn't pay for part-they do pay for diagnosis and i continue on with checking it out. the only thing is i show a hydraulic cooling fan pump which means this will run all the time it is suppose to, so maybe i am missing something here please follow up with maybe a different description of problem.
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QUESTION: the fan that is coming on now was not in the beginning, it is quite noticeable when it comes on just after starting the van and is something that is new only a few weeks ago, i am pretty sure it is the radiator fan and ford has confirmed that it is although they do not know why, they also are assuming this is why the air conditioning is not working ie: compressor not cycling on and off, the mechanic did remove the old pcm valve and it did have condensation in it, he blew it out with compressed air and upon returning it to the van the air did cycle on and off and the radiator fan did not come on, but only for a few minutes and then it did it again, which is why they thought it was the valve malfunctioning, after replacing with a new valve the fan still came on and the air still did not work, could it possibly be a wiring problem, i don't understand how a malfunction in the wiring would cause a fan to come on while motor running and turn off when vehicle turned off, thanks
Answerwiring is definitely a possibility because pcm controls fan and ac function-i have only seen a couple of the hydraulic fans but from what i know about them they do turn all the time and the pcm determines the speed low to high. as far as how it could do it with motor running and not with engine off-if yours has a hydraulic fan as it shows as soon as the power steering fluid quits circulating the fan will quit no matter what pcm is doing because it works on hydraulic pressure the pcm only controls flow while pump is turning. good luck.
