February 21st, 2021 at 9:47 PM
I drive a 2007 Volkswagen Jetta (2.5 liter). Love the car. It's absolutely amazing and it drives like a dream, save for the electrical problems. We joke that it's possessed by a ghost. Panic alarm goes off on its own. Can't lock with the key fob (triggers alarm also), doors randomly don't latch (already diagnosed this one), windows and sun roof goes up and down on its own on occasion, horn goes off by itself, and all sorts of other mysterious issues.
Those are all serviceable and able to be worked around, but this particular issue is much worse. The radiator fan is now coming on and off intermittantly, sometimes for seconds, sometimes for hours. It runs the battery down in the middle of the night. I've ordered a new fan relay and will install it tomorrow, but I don't believe this is the issue because I've swapped the ignition/fan relays and had no ignition related issues (they were the same part). Also, as far as I recall, relays fail often but they fail in such a way as to cause them to stick open or close (rather than flicker intermittantly).
I'm starting to believe this one is a computer module or worse, an actual short in the wiring itself. Shorts (or water) can cause this sort of issue. A lot of people are saying it could be a bad sensor in the radiator as well, although there would be no way to know if it's a bad sensor an actual short itself.
SpookyZalost is helping me ghetto rig it to only engage the fan when the ignition is on. It's looking like it's going to be a smooth process and won't be too difficult, but I'm wondering if anyone else with German cars has seen this sort of issue before and has any tips for what could be the actual cause itself.
Those are all serviceable and able to be worked around, but this particular issue is much worse. The radiator fan is now coming on and off intermittantly, sometimes for seconds, sometimes for hours. It runs the battery down in the middle of the night. I've ordered a new fan relay and will install it tomorrow, but I don't believe this is the issue because I've swapped the ignition/fan relays and had no ignition related issues (they were the same part). Also, as far as I recall, relays fail often but they fail in such a way as to cause them to stick open or close (rather than flicker intermittantly).
I'm starting to believe this one is a computer module or worse, an actual short in the wiring itself. Shorts (or water) can cause this sort of issue. A lot of people are saying it could be a bad sensor in the radiator as well, although there would be no way to know if it's a bad sensor an actual short itself.
SpookyZalost is helping me ghetto rig it to only engage the fan when the ignition is on. It's looking like it's going to be a smooth process and won't be too difficult, but I'm wondering if anyone else with German cars has seen this sort of issue before and has any tips for what could be the actual cause itself.
