Mk4 Golf and Bora Thermo fans

[Bora Sport]

I may be preaching to the converted here but I reccommend that particularly any Bora V5 or V6 owners check that the cooling fans are working.

There are a gazillion posts on VW Vortex about it but I haven't seen any mention of it here. Apparently it is a very common problem.

You need to check that both fans on the radiator are running whenever the air conditioning is on. Doesn't matter if the engine is hot or cold. If the air is on and the motor is running then both fans should be running on the low speed. (They are 2 speed fans)

Recently some other VWWatercooled friends and I took a relaxing Sunday drive from Samford up to Mt Glorious. Those of you in Brisbane that know the road will understand what I mean. Anyway I was forced to suspend play about halfway up because the temperature gauge was entering the danger zone and the ECU was flashing all sorts of messages like 'STOP', 'Check coolant level' 'refer service manual' etc.

Well I had the fans ripped out on Monday. One wasn't working at all and the other was only working on high speed. In normal driving including stop start situations I had no indication of any problem.

The Vortex site suggests that the problem is with the internal resistors in the fans. Snap! The resistors in both fans were stuffed, plus the brushes were worn out on one fan. The local Dub dealer quoted me roughly $335.00 for one and $375.00 for the other fan and thats trade.

There is a fix on the Vortex site that involves fitting external resistors and I am going to try that. I managed to track down some new brushes for the non working fan and it is now working again on the fast speed. So by tomorrow (hopefully) I will know how much I have saved by fixing the fans instead of coughing up for new fans which I am sure is what would have happened if I had taken it to the dealer.

I will keep you informed if anyone is interested.

[sim2002]

great another common issue! thanks for the heads up will check and see how they run for the V6

[G60JAY]

"Recently some other VWWatercooled friends and I took a relaxing Sunday drive from Samford up to Mt Glorious"

It was a bit more than a relaxing drive. Me brakes were starting to fade on the way down!!

[Bora Sport]

Just to add to the above. I spoke to the warranty claims manager at the local VW dealer and asked him whether he had seen many of these fan problems surface on the V5's and V6's. He said not really but that they had seen a few on the 4 cylinder models.

I have known him since school days so I assume that he is being straight with me and not just toeing the Corporate line. It is interesting though that they had the fans in stock which to me is a good indication that they sell a few.

[VWEAPN]

fans

well my fan on 04 GTI just went the other day, on the larger fan (bearings)
still under warranty, oh so lucky

[angry shot]

my fans stopped working (i noticed the air con was warm instead of cold) and it was the fuse on top of the battery. in fact the fuse was sort of shorting here and there so i just replaced it and all back to normal.

2001 v6

[qsilverza]

So what did it end up costing you to repair the fans ?

[Bora Sport]

So what did it end up costing you to repair the fans ?

It ended up costing me a smidge under $150.00 plus the cost of having the fans removed and replaced which i would have had to pay for anyway if the fans were going to be replaced with new fans.

So far all is good and my air con as well as the engine are cool all the time.

[qsilverza]

Awesome

[Bora Sport]

It ended up costing me a smidge under $150.00 plus the cost of having the fans removed and replaced which i would have had to pay for anyway if the fans were going to be replaced with new fans.

So far all is good and my air con as well as the engine are cool all the time.

It would be cheaper if you could make up the resistor board yourself and fit it. I paid someone to do the lot.

[bundabora]

Have a look at my post about this - for anyone looking at this more recently...

http://www.vwwatercooled.com/forums/f14/bora-2003-4-motion-fan-cluster-thermo-fan-set-70858.html

[grtuned]

Mk4 Golf and Bora Thermo fans

Just to add to the above. I spoke to the warranty claims manager at the local VW dealer and asked him whether he had seen many of these fan problems surface on the V5's and V6's. He said not really but that they had seen a few on the 4 cylinder models.

I have known him since school days so I assume that he is being straight with me and not just toeing the Corporate line. It is interesting though that they had the fans in stock which to me is a good indication that they sell a few.

They are known to fail after a few years but just because dealers have them in stock it doesn't means they fail early. The most damaged part in a front end hit would be the fans. Most likely why all dealers keep em!!!

[dubbed]

Welcome to MkIV life.

I've done the external resistor fix. preeny on here made me up a metal plate so should be able to help.

I believe the brushes in the fan wear out making them draw more current so blowing the internal resistors. One of my fans still squeals on start up but after that it's fine.