Okay I've done a search, but the other threads had not many good answers when this was asked before. I gotta run, so i'll post more later. Anyone wanna give some results of how long it takes before their fans kick on? Like how long of being stopped, and idling does it take for yours to kick on, and how long after the cycle is over before it kicks on again? I'll be back later. Thanks in advance.

 

Depends on outside temps, humidity, etc. Mine turns on pretty quick if I have the A/C on and I idle at a stoplight. Within 30 seconds usually. But that is after I have had my engine fully heated to 185 degrees. At 205, it will turn on.

 

If there is some wind and not too hot, it may never have to turn on while idling. But if you raise the RPM to 1.5-2K then it will come on as soon as the engine temp gets to 205F.

 

Thanks dudes I appreciate it. I kinda went back too fast in my first post cause I was pressed for time so i'll see what you have to say about this. I do remember reading in my search optimal temp was 185, and the fan comes on at 205, so this is what i'm wondering. Seems like the fan has been coming on more often than it used to, but maybe not. Could just be me. Thought maybe it was from my friend controlling the defrost setting when we were riding through a bad rain storm a couple weeks ago, and it was still on that position until a couple days ago.


So today it's about 80 degrees tops. Or at least at that time of the day it was only 80. Not too humid at all today. So I am off today, and visit a friend 40 minutes away. I go to the loca ice cream shop in town to pick him us up some milkshakes on my way this is his favorite place, and it's 5 minutes from my house. I wait for 2 minutes in the drive thru cause they got a drive thru there, and it doesn't come on. So I get on the highway, and turn on the ac to keep our shakes from melting, and then I make another stop at Sonic which is 15 minutes from there to pick us up some food in their drive thru. It's right off the highway so not a big bevy of lights. I oder there, and about 2 minutes later the fan comes on now I turned off the ac upon pulling in the drive thru. So I use the timer on my phone to time it. It runs for about 12 seconds, and then when it's over I got 1 minute 26 seconds rougly before it kicked back on. Ran for 12 seconds again, and then another 1 minute 12 seconds it's back again. Ran it's 12 seconds like normal, and then went less than a minute before it kicked on. So I left after this, and went on my way the next 20 minutes to his house.


On the rest of my way I just leave the ac off cause the shakes weren't melting. This is mostly highway driving too. When I pull into his driveway I get the timer out again, and it actually took like 2 minutes 40 seconds for it to come on. After it's 12 seconds of cycling it shuts off, and it takes 1 minute 27 seconds to come on, and then after that cycle it took another 1 minute 11 seconds to come on again. I let it run it's 12 seconds, and shut it down.


Does this sound too excessive? Or is it normal? Coolant is full. Thermostat bad? Or is this just normal? Should it only take a little over a minute for the fan to cycle on, and off at idle once it kicks on the first time?

Sorry for the novel, but thanks for the help.

2004 xb by the way. 92k miles.

 

Just get a temp gauge (OBD2 data display).

 

I think you have a bad case of OCD. Just drive.