aftermarket radatior electrric fan only has 2 wires??
- Thread starter BTilley
- Start date
Hi, I very much doubt anyone will be able to tell you how to wire this up as it's clearly not the proper one for the car, my suggestion is to return this radiator fan & buy the correct one, the old adage of 'buy cheap, spend twice' is very much applicable here.
Nice intro by the way :roll:
Nice intro by the way :roll:
What he said ^
The third wire is there for a reason, probably either a speed control input from a second relay/control module, or an output controlling a secondary function like AC/aux fan or similar. If a bodged ebay fan can be wired in to the + - something else isn't going to work and you may get fault codes as well.
There have been cases of Z4 fan wiring causing fires and a crap fan that doesn't do it's job will lead to overheating, these engines are easily ruined by overheating so is not worth the risk. The M54 engine is very reliable but will break your heart if it's not properly maintained and the cooling system is probably it's most vulnerable feature, anything that risks an overheat needs fixing properly to avoid warped/cracked heads and blocks, or brittle metal fatigue which causes studs to pull during the expensive re-build.
........ Short version is, it's a bad plan, don't do it :thumbsdown:
The third wire is there for a reason, probably either a speed control input from a second relay/control module, or an output controlling a secondary function like AC/aux fan or similar. If a bodged ebay fan can be wired in to the + - something else isn't going to work and you may get fault codes as well.
There have been cases of Z4 fan wiring causing fires and a crap fan that doesn't do it's job will lead to overheating, these engines are easily ruined by overheating so is not worth the risk. The M54 engine is very reliable but will break your heart if it's not properly maintained and the cooling system is probably it's most vulnerable feature, anything that risks an overheat needs fixing properly to avoid warped/cracked heads and blocks, or brittle metal fatigue which causes studs to pull during the expensive re-build.
........ Short version is, it's a bad plan, don't do it :thumbsdown:
sadly my car did over heat just once sitting in driveway 
..the fan didn't turn on.... i was listing to music while i was detailing my car, enjoying the summer i didn't wont to drain the battery so i started her up to charge... 15 minutes later i heard a beep... "it had over heated" i dove in, and turned her off, took me about 10-15 sec.. i'm so scared now after researching how sensitive they are to overheating.....but anyways i was looking for temp fix just to run it a bit to see the damages i made (((((((
..the fan didn't turn on.... i was listing to music while i was detailing my car, enjoying the summer i didn't wont to drain the battery so i started her up to charge... 15 minutes later i heard a beep... "it had over heated" i dove in, and turned her off, took me about 10-15 sec.. i'm so scared now after researching how sensitive they are to overheating.....but anyways i was looking for temp fix just to run it a bit to see the damages i made (((((((BTilley said:sadly my car did over heat just once sitting in driveway
Yep overheating is not good but don't panic, if it wasn't way too hot and you haven't run it for any distance in that condition you could be OK. It's time to attend to the basics, check for any fault codes, check for leaks particularly around the water pump, inlet/exhaust manifolds and hose connections, and the coolant level is OK.
Then it's working out why the fan didn't trigger, probably a sensor on the rad' or engine or a dodgy connection. The fans are suspect but you want to eliminate the simple (cheap) options before getting a genuine item, possibly from a decent breakers maybe. Once sorted remember to properly bleed the system of air as it isn't always easy and can cause more cooling problems. There is lots of good info on all these points on the forum or if in doubt get assistance as cocking up the cooling can be an expensive business. Let us know how you get on and maybe post an intro in the newbies thread
OK.. Hears the story... So after it had over heated cause the fan didn't turn on.. I checked the coolant temp harness with a voltage reader to make sure i was getting the right voltage it was ok "5v"... so i replaced coolant temp sensor.. fan still didn't work... so i was thinking it was maybe the thermostat that was stuck closed so i replaced it and, then i remember the fan was working when the ac was on... but wonted to test with a 12v box i had anyways.. when i was testing it, the wires sparked and smoked i think did cross wires with fan, and fan didn't come on, i had fried it.... So now i have no fan to test the new thermostat .. so thats why i had bought a aftermarket fan so i could test to see if thermostat was the problem "it wasn't a permanent replacement".. but anyways i took it back, called a shop, a tow truck is coming to get it to take it to a shop to fix... Ive never worked on a car or even changed the oil and was really excited to learn how and how to and diagnose a problem... guess ill never know if i had diagnosed and fix"except the fan" i'm just going end up with a whole a new cooling systeam... i did have fun learning though 
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