MRevo8maniac

iTrader: (1)

Is it normal for my cooling fan ('05 Evo VIII MR) to turn on and off every 20-30 seconds? When my AC is on the cycle is roughly cut in half to every 10 seconds.

Does anyone know of a fan control module that can be set to just keep the fan on and perhaps speed up when things heat up?

I can feel the extra load somewhat dramatically on the engine when the fan kicks on. To a passenger it feels like I abruptly let off the gas under midrange RPMs. I expect to notice something when the accessories kick on but it seems more than usual.

Thanks

Berts24

iTrader: (3)

I might be wrong but your A/C condensor fan will run as long as your A/C is on. Plus you have two fans, one for the A/C and one for the radiator so what one is acting up?

MRevo8maniac

iTrader: (1)

I wasn't aware that I had a condenser fan so I'll check it out. I'm guessing that's not the problem since I hear something clicking on and off even with the AC off. I also just had my AC compressor/clutch assembly repalced so I would assume the dealer would have verified that the condenser fan was functioning properly but that may be a bad assumption.
Thanks

MRevo8maniac

iTrader: (1)

It turns out that it is both the condenser fan and cooling fan coming on simultaneously but the click I hear when they turn on seems to be coming from the compressor and is probably the clutch (I think the click is normal since this is all new). This was all with the AC on. I haven't had a chance to check what happens when the AC is off.

Another interesting observation was that I checked this while the car was parked and running and both fans shut off together and then started back up very quickly after that (~5 secs). I know very little about how this all works but I would have guessed that the system would run longer the get the interior cooled sufficiently so that the compressor would not short cycle.

I guess the question now is should both fans be running at the same time?

I will also check to see if I hear the click of the AC clutch with the AC off, which is what i beleive I had been hearing. If so, another question is should the condenser fan be running when the AC is off?

Thanks

Berts24

iTrader: (3)

I just went out and check for you and yes both fans run at the same time when the AC is on, and then they both shut off when the AC is off. They both do also come on when the coolant reaches a certain temp, I belive it's around 210 they run for about 10-15 seconds and shut off

MRevo8maniac

iTrader: (1)

Thanks. Do your fans come on frequently like 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off, and then on again? My evo gets very obnoxious to drive in warmer weather with the fans coming on constantly and the resulting power loss from the engine. I found a thread re: water pump failures on '05 evos and wonder if this could be the issue since as you say the fans react to the coolant temp.

I see that you've upgraded your clutch and transfer case. I hate the stock clutch and have an awful second gear crunch. How much of a difference did these upgrades make for you? I upgrades my shifter bushings and changed to redline tranny fluid, which helped a bit.

Berts24

iTrader: (3)

if your fans are coming on that often than chances are you have a cooling issue, only way to find out is to hook up a coolant temp guage or do some logs. A simple coolant flush and fill could fix that, if not a thermo. change too. I upgrade the clutch because the stock one gave out, same with the TCase. Thing is I only had the car for a few months before the stock clutch gave out so it's hard for me to compare the two when I've been use to the aftermarket all this time. As for the TCase you don't notice any differance, it's just the piece of mind knowing that I can launch it and it won't fall apart!!!

Force-Fed Performance

iTrader: (46)

What kind of mileage does your car have? It may be time for you to service the cooling system and flush the radiator and change the thermostat. Sometimes we will see cars with fans that rarely run due to the thermostat slightly sticking open and keeping the car from constantly run at operating temp. Now your car doesnt necessarily sound like it has something wrong with it to me because I am not there to check it out. But you may want to service the system to make sure there are no air pockets in your system and the thermostat is not sticking on you. As long as it is not getting hot I would not worry about it to be honest. And the clicking you are hearing is just the compressor cycling on and off dont worry about it.

MRevo8maniac

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys. I'm going to check out the cooling system. It hasn't failed in any way but I'm almost at 100k miles and its probably time to renew the system.

Force-Fed Performance

iTrader: (46)

yes then you should definatly flush it out and put a new thermostat in
Let me know if i can help you on anything sir

Justin

MRevo8maniac

iTrader: (1)

I had the coolant flushed and have to reorder a thermostat because by Mishimoto racing thermostat order at Stikiller seems to have disppeared.

This doesn't seem to be a factor though since my brand new AC compressor and clutch burned up again less than 2 months after installation. I went to the dealer and had to demand that they look deeper into the issue. At first they said "Everything looks fine. We checked the entire system and it just seems to be the AC clutch that has failed. It was aftermarket so I thought maybe I got a bad one but didn't really think so.

I asked them to dig deeper still. They discovered that my AC expansion valve was sticking. This was causing my car to experience extra load and then release it sporadically, which I had been complaining about for thousands of miles (Everything is always fine and normal at the dealership). Driving home after the new AC compressor & clutch was installed with a new expansion valve the car felt like an Evo again.

Having driven the car for a while I starting to experience periods of additionally load on the engine but more subtle. Strangely I discovered that my AC clutch was running WITHOUT the AC turned on. I called the dealer who hasn't returned my call. Then I called Mitsubishi who doesn't seem to want to deal with customer complaints. I will call the dealer again tomorrow since that is what they want. You would think that someone at Mitsubishi could answer a simple question such as," Should the AC clutch be spinning when you have the AC off?"

Well I decided to investigate further since the first time I looked things over I managed to get the AC clutch to stop spinning when I shut the AC off. It turned out to be a very complex combination of turn off the radio, set the parking brake, turn the heat on, press the ACD button whiling turning the AC on ... just kidding... It turns out that my AC clutch will spin if I set the fan control knob to defrost with feet or just defrost... NO JOKE... This cannot be normal. How is this even possible?

I guess its time to drive an hour to my closest dealer so they can utter the chalkboard-like scrape, "Could not duplicate."

Berts24

iTrader: (3)

yes your AC comes on when you have it on the defrost setting even if you don't have the AC button pressed

MRevo8maniac

iTrader: (1)

I'm referring to the the knob on the far right and the two settings on the right side of that knob are the ones that cause the AC clutch to spin even when the AC is off. The AC button does not light up and no cool air comes out, so the AC is not on. The clutch is just spinning.

...Just want to be clear. Should the clutch be spinning?

Berts24

iTrader: (3)

yes because your AC is in fact on despite what the light is telling you. On most cars the AC automaticly comes on when running the defrost.