# My Experience At The Dealership Today: Fan Problem



## Danni133 (Jun 22, 2015)

Last Friday I turned my AC on to cool the car before getting in and every 30 seconds heard the fan kick on as loud as a jet engine. This then continued every 30 seconds while the air was on, even when driving. This has never happened with this car before, and so I took it into the dealership today. FOUR HOURS later I left with the diagnosis of it being the fan (after they charged me $110 for the diagnostic), and they wanted to charge me $541.00 to replace it (without labor costs and hey didn't even have it in stock). I find it hard to believe this isn't covered under any warranty for a 2011 vehicle that is in mint condition. Is this true? I would definatly welcome a second opinion on this matter.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Based on time alone you're out of the 36 month/36,000 mile Bumper to Bumper warranty. The real question is which fan? I don't know but the main cooling fan may be under the Power train warranty. Check your warranty book for this.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

I'd imagine that your B2B which is good for 3 years/36,000 miles has expired.

You still may have the power train warranty. According to the Chevy website:


> Engine coverage includes all internally lubricated parts, engine oil cooling hoses, and lines. Also included are all actuators and electrical components internal to the engine (e.g., Active Fuel Management valve, lifter and oil manifold) cylinder head, block, timing gears, timing chain, timing cover, oil pump/oil pump housing, OHC carriers, valve covers, oil pan, seals, gaskets, manifolds, flywheel, water pump, harmonic balancer, engine mount, turbocharger, and supercharger. Timing belts are covered until the first scheduled maintenance interval. Exclusions: Excluded from the powertrain coverage are sensors, wiring, connectors, engine radiator, coolant hoses, coolant, and heater core. Coverage on the engine cooling system begins at the inlet to the water pump and ends with the thermostat housing and/or outlet that attaches to the return hose. Also excluded is the starter motor, entire pressurized fuel system (in-tank fuel pump, pressure lines, fuel rail(s), regulator, injectors, and return line), as well as the Engine/ Powertrain Control Module and/or module programming.


Nope, not covered. Sorry. (But check the paperwork that came with the car to make sure.)

From a prior thread, what may have happened is the resistor for "medium" speed has gone out. When the computer commands medium, the fan just stops. Then, when things get really hot, the computer commands "high" until things cool down a bit and switches to "medium" again. 

The resistor is sold as part of the fan assembly. But it looks like it's located in a box external to the fan - I believe it's up near the top/driver's side of the fan. If you've got the skills, it might be worth opening up and see if it can be repaired.


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## Danni133 (Jun 22, 2015)

According to my invoice it was the engine fans.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Depending on if you have a auto or manual trans, the MSRP on the part is $250. Around $160 on-line. How handy are you with a wrench?


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## Danni133 (Jun 22, 2015)

ChevyGuy I'm a 32 year old female massage therapist, so not handy at all haha I have a friend who works at another dealership whose gonna look at the car for me, and said that price they quoted me was outrageous. I just wanted to know if the dealership was hosing me or not.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

If the part is $250 as mentioned above I can't imagine it being more than 1.5hours to change out the engine cooling fan, can't see how this repair would ever be more than $500. Remember that $110 diagnostic fee should be applied to the repair cost as well, if you get the work done at the dealer.


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## BU54 (Nov 24, 2014)

Difficult to believe a fan switch costs $250, but the dealer doubles(at least)the cost of parts to increase profit. Labor only is not enough tese days. Yes I understand most garages/repair shop mark up the parts also, but my point is dealerships are the most expensive place to get parts and repair service.
Heck a turn signal arm on my 03 S-10 cost $270 about 10 years ago, yes it has cruise control on it, but still.
Also about 2 years ago the ABS relay went bad and the location is in some computer board that costs $1700 plus $1300 for labor. Truck's barely worth $3k now so needless to say I've been without ABS for 2 years now. All these fancy computer devices and safety features now a days sure are nice but they come at an extremely high cost.


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

I remember reading Alldata for the 1.4L about service of the air conditioning evaporator back when people were having them fail due to rocks and debris. 

Hopefully the fan is not part of the air conditioning evaporator, radiator, assembly. Maybe it can be unbolted and come out without removal of the front bumper and draining the coolant. 

Original Poster, what kind of car do you have? LS, LT, 2LT, LTZ, auto transmission or manual? 

Is there anyone out there who's replaced the intercooler on the 1.4L that may know how accessible the fan block would be for this repair? Can it come out from under the hood?

Maybe the cheapest repair maybe to see if this module attached to the fan can be removed and replaced without pulling the entire assembly. Even if you had to buy an entire new fan online to get the electrical parts.

I'll dig through my Air conditioning files, I may have something, but it's possible " the labor book" maybe taking the fans out the front. You may have to be creative.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

carbon02 said:


> Hopefully the fan is not part of the air conditioning evaporator, radiator, assembly. Maybe it can be unbolted and come out without removal of the front bumper and draining the coolant.


No.

From my manual, it looks like you need to "reposition" the upper end tie bar (structure at top of radiator), and it mentions "position radiator assembly forward". And of course you need to pull the shroud, but that's about it.

Whoa! the manual has a procedure for replacing the resistor! Unplug, unbolt. That's it!


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

Well to pull the shroud and reposition the structure at the top of the radiator you'd have to pull the bumper cover. 

It appears based on the Vaxhaull Astra 1.4L, the fan assembly can be unclipped and removed from the hood side. 

Original poster if you're still out there, I think the way to do this repair is to get your hands on a resistor. It's possible that the resistor is GE part numbered and we can try to find it on the internet, or a local salvage dealer. Or worst case buy an entire new fan assembly just to get the resistor. 

Based on my googling, I think it's the resistor. I personally would just change the resistor without actually changing the fan assembly.

I'll see if I can get some numbers off the resistor tonight. 

ChevyGuy-

Thanks for looking this up. Let's see if the OP returns, before digging further.


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## peligro911 (Apr 8, 2015)

Danni133 said:


> Last Friday I turned my AC on to cool the car before getting in and every 30 seconds heard the fan kick on as loud as a jet engine. This then continued every 30 seconds while the air was on, even when driving. This has never happened with this car before, and so I took it into the dealership today. FOUR HOURS later I left with the diagnosis of it being the fan (after they charged me $110 for the diagnostic), and they wanted to charge me $541.00 to replace it (without labor costs and hey didn't even have it in stock). I find it hard to believe this isn't covered under any warranty for a 2011 vehicle that is in mint condition. Is this true? I would definatly welcome a second opinion on this matter.


That sucks maybe find a someone local to do it for less and buy the part yourself


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

carbon02 said:


> Well to pull the shroud and reposition the structure at the top of the radiator you'd have to pull the bumper cover.


I'll have to double-check, but I don't think it's that bad. 




carbon02 said:


> Thanks for looking this up. Let's see if the OP returns, before digging further.


My biggest concern is that the fan is going bad and caused the resistor to burn up. That might explain why they're not selling it as a sub-part.


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