Now that I've had several issues, I'm nervous about every little noise or anything out of the ordinary with my 8. As you may have seen in other threads, we recently had a flooded situation, a difficult restart, several CEL's, and a bad running motor which led to an expensive dealer installed tune-up. Only to have a CEL come back again for - system too lean. On a couple of occasions, as well, with the last one being the drive over to the dealer to drop the car off, we've had the red light come on saying the coolant was low and then go back off even though the coolant appears to be fine when checked. This happened once months ago and then again the day I drove it over to the dealer.

Anyway, where I live here in eastern North Carolina, it can get downright hot in the summer. And this car has been driven further distances in much more heat than today was. It was warm today but not scorching like this car has seen before. My daughter just drove the car home from school, about 10 miles, and did not get on it hard at all, and when she drove in the garage and shut the engine off, the fan continued to run for several minutes. Now, I realize that is by design, but why today and not other days? Is something causing the engine to run hotter than it should be in this kind of weather at highway speeds for that short of a distance? The coolant level seems to be fine. This is literally the first time we've had the fun run after the engine was turned off since we've owned the car.

 

You sound a little paranoid but it's understandable, Welcome to RX-8 ownership

My fan runs all the time when my car is stopped but I am in South Texas. The radiator light is indicative of the sensor failing in the radiator reservoir which is common. How many miles?

The reservoir is expensive for what it is but you can try cleaning it with vinegar and see if that gets the crud out. Going to the dealer was your first fault. A lean code can come from many things but check that all vacuum hoses and vacuum caps are on and secure. Another local member had a lean code CEL and it was just because he was missing the vacuum nipple cover on the intake manifold. We capped it, cleared the code, and the problem was gone.

 

51k miles and this car has been babied since new. When I bought it, it looked like it had never even been driven in the rain. All service records. Only thing that should have been done to it that I can't find any evidence of being done was a tune-up at 30k. Still, could have been done and I just don't have the receipt.

If this was something that happens all the time, then I would think nothing of it. But this car has been driven for hours at a time in temps approaching triple digits and the fan wasn't running when shut off. Now, today it was driven 15 minutes at maybe 88 or 90 degrees outside temp and the fan runs for 10 minutes after being shutoff?

 

So did you have the coils and plugs replaced? i wouldn't worry, several of us local members have discussed this, each car is different and the fans on different 8's come on for different times, etc.

Are you sure she didn't get on it driving it home? Mine are on constantly but I am modded and drive pretty aggressive so it's understandable. It's how long the car stays hot that cause the fans to turn on, stay on, etc. I bet it just got hot because it was actually being driven hard (not a bad thing). The fans are just doing their job.

 

Yes - replaced last Friday by, I'm ashamed to admit, a dealer service dept.

 

Do the service records state that the coolant had been drained and system flushed? or have you done it yourself. I change and flush every two years regardless of miles.

Also check for debris on the radiator and/or oil coolers.

Just my .02$

 

My fans also run at seemingly random times, but it's all normal. Just rationalize it as the car is 'feeling' hot

 

I've had my fans kick on after a quick shut off...I just find a reason to stall for a minute or so in the car getting the keys, picking up items i may have had to bring with me roll up window, then shut off...usually keeps the after run cool down feature from kicking on.

 

Yeah you might think I am strange but I almost installed and extra Greddy turbo timer I have laying around just for that purpose, haha.

 

if you have your AC on, and drive it hard and the temp is above 90F, it would kick on.

 

LOL probably not as crazy as parking and then starting a particularly favorite song and rocking out for that song as a cool down delay HAHA

 

Haha, I listen to Stern replays while my car warms up, Since my work is so close I don't get to listen to the show as much.

 

I live in NC and my cars fan runs all summer long.

 

Understood but I think the point is being missed. I live in NC and the car has been driven all summer long and the fan has never come on after shutting off the engine until today. If it did it all the time, it wouldn't seem strange because it is a design feature of the car. But why today when it wasn't as hot and the car wasn't driven far or hard? Just a casual drive home from school - but the AC was on - but that's not unusual either.

Would there be any merit to the theory that, with new plugs, wires, and coils, the engine is actually producing enough extra heat to cause this? Seems a stretch to me.

 

You want to hear your fan run 24/7? Move to Tucson in the summer. We're used to it!

 

I wouldn't worry about this. This is normal behavior for the car and it does it whenever it needs to cool down. Besides you can never be sure of how the car's temperature is responding to driving conditions, there are numerous variables you have no direct control over.

My car does this cool down for about 10-20 seconds everytime I come back from a drive exceeding 15 minutes.

The longest I remember the fan running was 10 minutes after some hard driving around a track. The coolant also overflowed and had to be replaced. THAT was scary :P