Right front side fan seizing, dying. Still drivable?

[DCYL725]

After fast charging, my right side front fan started creaking and sounds like it’s slowly dying. Also have a long trip tomorrow. About 120 miles.

is this car still drivable and able to maintain battery temperature?

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[thefunkygibbon]

mine also makes a lot of noise. much more noticable now the sun is out here and the fan is kicking in to cool the battery and do Aircon stuff (i assume?... it seems to come on when the aircon is kicking in)

following to see what others say.

probably should take the wheel and cover off to give the fan a good clean though. yours kinda sounds like it might have something like a twig or whatnot that is catching on the fins. if so, hopefully its an easy fix for you. as its a stupily expensive part to replace.

 

[DavidS78]

There is no substitute to removing the arch covers and cleaning thoroughly. I’ve had this a few times on both front fans and I’ve always been able to resolve it with a little ‘cheap’ maintenance. In fact I’ll incorporate this into my maintenance washes on a weekly or biweekly basis depending on the previous driving conditions.

1. turn to full lock in one direction
2. Get a hose with moderate pressure and leave it flow through the vents
3. As you do this take a long and thin handle like item (i use a plastic knife that puts no pressure on the fan blade) and turn it.

It may require a number of attempts at this very awkward activity but it works for me as a simple way of keeping these clean.​

 

[Shug]

It only takes about 10 minutes to remove the wheel arch liners to give you full access to get all the debris out of the bottom of the fan shroud.


Once the wheel is off there are about 10 Torx screws plus two 10mm nuts and the wheel arch liner will pull free.


I found lots of small stones inside mine.

 

[MrJones02]

Its not really seizing/dying, that fan turns on and off like that frequently by design.
Mine also can make a fair amount of noise every now and then, lots of dirt and small stones seem to accumulate in that area.
Once had a co-worker alarming me something was wrong with my car while it was charging in the parking lot, as it was making some strange grinding noise LOL.
Removing the wheel arch liner as suggested here, to do a good cleaning is the best you can do. I'm lazy so I don't go further than turning the wheel full lock and poke around/turn the fan a little with a barbeque stick

 

[TonyR]

Where does the debris get in and could you fix a mesh over it to keep the debris out of the fan?

 

[thefunkygibbon]

literally the wheel arch where the fans are. and yes. I honestly don't understand why p didn't, it wouldn't affect the airflow in any meaningful way

 

[hifi239]

Under info you have the battery temp you can monitor. The battery also cools via the left fan. Your AC might not be too happy. Don’t forget about the TSB for your 2021 car. Fan noise in the USA means the dealer will replace fans and shrouds free with an updated design less susceptible to debris.

 

[Ianj75]

My offside (AC) fan had seized prior to me picking the car up, luckily the nearside charging fan is fine

Local dealer has refused to replace under any kind of TSB, saying it’s a maintenance issue..

Quoted £3750 for both sides as they will only replace both fans at the same time as it requires redesigned arches and air guides..!

Was informed that the only issue I would face by not replacing the AC fan would be not so cool temperatures from the AC system ?‍

 

[DCYL725]

My offside (AC) fan had seized prior to me picking the car up, luckily the nearside charging fan is fine

Local dealer has refused to replace under any kind of TSB, saying it’s a maintenance issue..

Quoted £3750 for both sides as they will only replace both fans at the same time as it requires redesigned arches and air guides..!

Was informed that the only issue I would face by not replacing the AC fan would be not so cool temperatures from the AC system ?‍

they are charging you for fans that broke on a brand new car before you picked up? Am I reading this wrong?

 

[TonyR]

they are charging you for fans that broke on a brand new car before you picked up? Am I reading this wrong?

Or even an a newly purchased yet to be collected used car. Was this from a Porsche dealer or someone else? In the UK you have certain rights you can exercise in this case. I would be inclined to threaten to exercise your right to return it within 30 days and get a full refund. They are going to have to fix them to resell it so they’ll be better off fixing them for free for you than fix them for free and then have to find another buyer which won’t be at a £3,750 higher price. You could also exercise your right to repair as they will have a hard job proving the fault wasn’t there when you bought the car as it appears you hadn’t even driven it when the fault was identified.

https://www.whatcar.com/news/your-legal-rights-if-something-goes-wrong-with-your-car/n3307

 

[Ianj75]

they are charging you for fans that broke on a brand new car before you picked up? Am I reading this wrong?

Not new no, 3 years old when I got it

 

[Ianj75]

Or even an a newly purchased yet to be collected used car. Was this from a Porsche dealer or someone else? In the UK you have certain rights you can exercise in this case. I would be inclined to threaten to exercise your right to return it within 30 days and get a full refund. They are going to have to fix them to resell it so they’ll be better off fixing them for free for you than fix them for free and then have to find another buyer which won’t be at a £3,750 higher price. You could also exercise your right to repair as they will have a hard job proving the fault wasn’t there when you bought the car as it appears you hadn’t even driven it when the fault was identified.

https://www.whatcar.com/news/your-legal-rights-if-something-goes-wrong-with-your-car/n3307

Not from Porsche unfortunately, only had 30 days to bring to light any issues otherwise I accept the car as is.

To be fair it’s immaculate and all the recalls have been previously sorted out

The 3rd party warranty I got with the car states existing defects are not covered..my only hope is to convince the Porsche centre that it was working fine when I got it and they can get the 3rd party warranty to accept the work

 

[thefunkygibbon]

i can't see how they could argue that the issue was there before you bought the car. it likely was, but there isn't a way to prove it unless it was throwing up ECU errors.
I'm just about to start the same process with my dealer who i bought from a month or two ago. I'm sure they will have some smallprint to wiggle out of it. But I don't see why you took to Porsche unless the 3rd party warranty says you had to.

 

[Ianj75]

Update

Finally got around to getting the fan sorted, have had the offending side replaced at Chester OPC via my 3rd party warranty from Car360 with no issues.

Dealer did want to replace both sides at the same time but when I asked is that an admission of knowing that the original isn’t fit for purpose he said doing one side this time is fine

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