New x1140 Radiator fan short cycling

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Rtarchery

New member
I have a new x1140 3 hours and the fan is short cycling. It's on for maybe a second or two then off for half a second then back on for a second or two and on and on. It has sounded alarm one time and I turned the engine off then back on with the engine not running and the fan ran and cooled to two bars in a few seconds then I started the engine and ran for a couple of miles with no problems. For the next two times out all went well except for the short cycling. Today it went up to halfway on the gauge then fan came on and two seconds later it was down to two bars. Outside temps were 55-70 degrees every time. It's seems to be an intermittent problem so I'll have to wait until it repeats then take a picture and take it in for warranty work.

What is the proper cycle for these fans.
 
Welcome to the forum Rtarchery. I'm sorry that I don't have the information you need but am really glad that your machine is under warranty ! The oem fan was very expensive when I replaced my 2005 so I went with an aftermarket Flexilite brand for much less.
It could be a loose wire/connection etc... or a faulty fan. Best wishes for a quick fix ! Please let us know the outcome. bordercollie
 
it could be you have an air pocket in your cooling system and the engine is overheating rapidly then cooling rapidly causing the short cycle. i would bleed the cooling system soon.

in normal operation on my x1100C when the fan kicks on the bars drop pretty fast.
 
Thanks for responding. How does your fan operate when it comes on? Does it run for awhile or do repeated short bursts like mine?
 
my fan comes on at three bars and runs solid. sometimes it runs for a few min and sometimes for a min or so maybe less. depends on the temp. you might try swapping the relay with another but i would confirm there isn't air in the cooling system first. what i find interesting is your fan seems to be responding correctly to the temp bars and they are fluctuating.
 
The fan cools the contents of the radiator.
The engine water pump pulls those contents into the engine and returns heated coolant to the radiator.
The electric fan will only run when it senses hot coolant and the electric fan has electric-power (the key must be on.). But if the engine is not running the cooled coolant will not cool the engine. Instead, the fan will only cool the radiator coolant, and the non-running engine will still contain hot coolant.
Bottom line: If your engine is not running then the fan might run short or long until the temp sensor detects sufficiently-lowered temperature, which will NOT benefit your engine unless the engine is running.
When you ran your RTV “for a couple miles” it didn’t overheat because 1- the coolant was being cooled in the radiator by relative wind due to your forward motion and 2-the engine water pump was pulling cooled coolant thru your engine. So no useful info is obtained by that activity as regards your electric fan. If your engine is not running and the fan runs only a second or two it could be any one of several reasons -1- the coolant was on the threshold of the sensor, 2- the sensor is defective, 3- the connection-terminal at the sensor or elsewhere is intermittent, 4- the fan motor electric supply is inconsistent due to loose/corroded connections, etc. and on and on and on.
If your key is on, and your fan is running, it does not benefit your engine or your battery because coolant is not being circulated thru your hot engine and your battery is not being recharged while it is discharging thru your fan motor.
When your engine/coolant is hot you should run your engine at speed (not idle) and if possible your RTV should be moving into the wind. Otherwise, shut it down and turn off the key and let it cool down.
 
My x1100CW also short cycles a cooling fan. I have not paid too much attention, but I did find it odd. The engine coolant rarely or never goes above 3 bars on the dash readout.
 
I ran it some more this weekend to get a feel for what's going on. I'm thinking sensor because yesterday and today when i went to start in the morning ( 55 degrees) it already showed one bar on the temperature gauge. If the fan short cycles at three bars the first ride of the day then it tends to cycle for a while (10-15 min, 3-4 miles) before it stops cycling and the gauge starts to climb. When it gets to 6 bars I stop and turn it off then turn it on to get the fan to come on and sometimes it takes a few turn on /off to get it to come on, then i restart and let it cool down.

I am taking it in tomorrow for warranty. I will reply when they diagnose the problem. I took pictures of every bar increase so they could see that each bar was 1/10th of a mile. Hopefully I won't get a "we couldn't recreate the problem". You have to drive it awhile before it heats up enough to create the problem.
 
Rtarchery said:
I ran it some more this weekend to get a feel for what's going on. I'm thinking sensor because yesterday and today when i went to start in the morning ( 55 degrees) it already showed one bar on the temperature gauge. If the fan short cycles at three bars the first ride of the day then it tends to cycle for a while (10-15 min, 3-4 miles) before it stops cycling and the gauge starts to climb. When it gets to 6 bars I stop and turn it off then turn it on to get the fan to come on and sometimes it takes a few turn on /off to get it to come on, then i restart and let it cool down.

I am taking it in tomorrow for warranty. I will reply when they diagnose the problem. I took pictures of every bar increase so they could see that each bar was 1/10th of a mile. Hopefully I won't get a "we couldn't recreate the problem". You have to drive it awhile before it heats up enough to create the problem.
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I never get above three bars. My problem is running cool in the winter. My fan comes on for a short time, if I'm going very slow pulling a steep hill, but temp drops immediately after the fan comes on.
 
Maybe just a loose connection or a faulty sensor. Hope the dealer does right by you.
And... welcome to the best RTV Forum ever.
 
Dealer called and said it's ready. He said there is a harness/connector for the fan that they have found the pins not fully seated on a couple other units. On mine the pins were fully seated but one pin was at an angle and making intermittent contact. They straightened that pin and they say all is well. i will post back if it isn't.
 
Well finally got some seat time today and the problem still exists. I was doing a drag with cow panel and 2' x 5' 1" tube with expanded metal panel welded to it. I ran in low range about 5 mph and it didn't take long to climb to 7 bars and alarm. Texted my salesman and let him know my displeasure. Taking it back in tomorrow morning. Losing faith in this machine. Probably should not have sold my rtv 400. If it wasn't a cooling issue it wouldn't be so bad, getting worried about long term effects now. Only 10 hours so far.
 
The dealers job is to make you happy - that first " repair" is not suitable. Sure glad you have a warranty and a loud voice !
 
ok i'll be a curmudgeon > I think the cooling system is air locking. or the impeller is loose on the water pump. just bleed it yourself because i don't think the mechanic knows how and i don't think you will void the warranty by doing so. but at least you can check that off of the list.
 
The fan is the problem I believe. When the coolant bars on the display start climbing the fan will not come on. This morning (60 degrees)when it went to alarm i turned it off and then turned the key to on, not start, to try to get the fan to come. Before, this would get the fan to come on but not today so I let it cool down without running. It didn't take long maybe 5 minutes and it was at 4 bars when I turned the key to on, not start, and the fan came on so I started it and it cooled to three bars and fan went off.
While it was cooling down I cracked the radiator cap and fluid went into the recovery tank. When I had it running again I checked the recovery tank and it was back to the correct level.
Authuritis, the intermittent fan couldn't be related to air in the system could it?
 
to be honest i am not 100 pc sure. but if the sensors that turn on the fan aren't covered in coolant then yes it could cause a delay in it coming on until an overheat situation. just to be sure i would bleed the system and confirm then move on from there. have you swapped the fan relay?
 
When the belt broke on my old RTV, it ran hot quickly . Replaced it and was good to go. Then when my fan went out, it went out all the way and would never turn on again.( out of warranty so replaced with aftermarket) In your case, I'd consider the possibility that it might be something to do with the sensors or a bad wire etc. Warranty is a good thing but they will blame you if it runs hot and messes up the engine. Just be careful. bordercollie
 
something that bothers me about this is the fact that the overheating is rapid and then cooling off is just as rapid. makes me thing that there is an air pocket or the impeller on the pump is broken. the temp even without the fan shouldn't get hot that fast and on my X1100 when the fan kicks on it still takes a few min to cool down to two bars.
 
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