Continuous engine fan operation

[Sparkc180]

All,

I think I posted this in the incorrect forum to begin with and thanks to Television for his help so far. Here is a complete description of the car and fault, rather than the incomplete one on the other post

Car is a '99 C180 Classic with AC. Full MB SH until 88K and specialist there after. Car now on 115K.

In the engine bay there is only one fan. This has two wires coming out going to the right as you look into the bay.

When you start the car, this fan kicks in almost immediately and seems to be going very fast. You can certainly hear it in the cabin when idling or stopped at lights.

The car isn't using coolant or Oil. I have also had the car in two 3hour traffic jams, moving a couple of feet a minute at most. The temp gauge gets halfway up and rises no further and all other operation seems fine.

The AC in the car seems to be constantly and selecting the EC button does not turn this fan off.

I think given these facts that a head gasket failure is unlikey (oil is also V clean, no mayo on cap or dip stick).

I am also pretty sure it's not aircon related as I believe the EC button turns off AC and this does not stop the fan working. The car does heat up to halfway on the temp guage within 4/5 minutes of driving from cold, but never gets above half and I believe this to be normal behaviour. The car is in warrenty until 7 days time, but the dealer is a LONG way from where I currently live.

1: Can anybody speculate as to what the problem may be? (have heard there is a radiator fan controller that may be shot)
2: Should I take it to the MB dealer and providing not expensive, get it fixed, rather than drive 100K to the dealer who sold it to me?
3: Should I just take it back to the dealer I bought it off and insist he fix under warrenty?

any thoughts/comments gratefully received.
Many thanks,

Spark

 

[Coulsdon Eagle]

i had that happen on the Vito, basically your temperature sender in the thermostat housing is knackered, causing the fan to be on constantly, word of advice, get yourself a new thermostat housing, or at least make sure they have one in stock, before attempting to remove the old one, mine snapped off in the housing, and MB couldn't get one in this country for love nor money, ended up with the van off the road for nearly a week because if that, will also say that although it's annoying, it's not the end of the world if the fans on constantly

 

[300TE4Matic]

I had the same thing a month or so ago, changed the thermostat and fixed the problem straight away, would also recommend that you get the replacement part before removing the old one as well you never know what state it will be in and may not be re-usable they are relatively cheap