Electric Fan Running When Car's Off

[SporE]

Hey R3v,

I really need some help as I do not know much of anything when it comes to electrical issues. a few weeks ago I turned off my car and heard my a fan running, but being that i was parked next to a running car, I figured it was their car. I came back about an hour later to start my car and it was completely dead. I jumped the car and with some diagnosis found that when I even have the car off, the electric cooling fan attached to my radiator is running while the car is off and just keeps going until it drains the battery;never happened before.

Car: 1991 318is, battery is only about 2 months old, I don't know about the fan.

what I've tried:
-Resetting the battery.
-Leaving the battery disconnected(But it drains it so quickly that By the time i try to start, i don't have my ~12 volts)
-Unplugging the fan from the relay next to it, but I guess due to the fact that it's still a live wire, my battery still drained pretty quickly.

Another major issue this possible short is doing is that while I am driving, the fan is pulling so much energy that my car nearly dies(radio shuts off and lights begin to dim) and i have to rev to maintain power.

So the point I am at now is that I need a jump to drive the car each time its stopped. I think it may be that i need a new fan relay but like I said, I don't know much of anything about electrical and I am a poor college student so I don't wanna take a gamble on buying parts online if I don't have to. Please help me out, I haven't been able to drive my baby for weeks.

Thanks

[MattPro]

Hey R3v,

I really need some help as I do not know much of anything when it comes to electrical issues. a few weeks ago I turned off my car and heard my a fan running, but being that i was parked next to a running car, I figured it was their car. I came back about an hour later to start my car and it was completely dead. I jumped the car and with some diagnosis found that when I even have the car off, the electric cooling fan attached to my radiator is running while the car is off and just keeps going until it drains the battery;never happened before.

Car: 1991 318is, battery is only about 2 months old, I don't know about the fan.

what I've tried:
-Resetting the battery.
-Leaving the battery disconnected(But it drains it so quickly that By the time i try to start, i don't have my ~12 volts)
-Unplugging the fan from the relay next to it, but I guess due to the fact that it's still a live wire, my battery still drained pretty quickly.

Another major issue this possible short is doing is that while I am driving, the fan is pulling so much energy that my car nearly dies(radio shuts off and lights begin to dim) and i have to rev to maintain power.

So the point I am at now is that I need a jump to drive the car each time its stopped. I think it may be that i need a new fan relay but like I said, I don't know much of anything about electrical and I am a poor college student so I don't wanna take a gamble on buying parts online if I don't have to. Please help me out, I haven't been able to drive my baby for weeks.

Thanks

It sounds like your battery might be trashed even if you didn't have the fan problem...
If you disconnect your battery for a short period of time you shouldn't be losing any voltage in it. And when you have the car running, it shouldn't almost die with the fan running (unless there's some kind of major short somewhere). The fan is meant to run with your a/c so it shouldn't kill it at all.

In the mean time I would get a new battery and leave the fan disconnected and see if it is still draining with the battery connected. If the battery still drains you probably have a major short somewhere, if not you can work on the fan running problem then.

[SporE]

Battery should be good, its brand spankin new. Also, I checked all fuses are fine. Could the relay mounted to the front of the engine bay feeding power to the fan cause this problem of there's a short within it?

[Gregs///M]

So you saying the fan was still powered even when you pulled the relay for it? How do know it was the correct relay?

Most likely a sticking relay, replace it.

[SporE]

No if I pull the relay the fan turns off so I know its the right relay, I just dont know if the relay os the problem because I dont know much about them

[SporE]

I jumped the car to drive it around tonight and the car completely died while driving it...the radio shut off at throttle was completely dead. I has to kickstart it back. What the heck...?

[Balleristic31]

Is ur alternator bad? Are all ur dash lights randomly lighting up?

[SporE]

Yes some lights are weird on my dash and even stay on when I turn off the car, it could be I ned a new alternator?

[SporE]

New deep cell battery in and car turns over but wont start.....everything is breaking.

[ELVA164]

The alternator sounds like a possible issue here. Even with a bad battery, a car shouldn't die like yours did if the alternator works correctly-unless there is a HUGE short somewhere. The lights on your dash, do they stay on with the key in the off position (e.g. able to remove the key)? If so, there could be a problem beyond the battery/alternator/fan. That could also explain why the fan won't shut off.

[SporE]

The oil srrvice lights stay ob even with the key out of the ignition. I am leaning towards a bad alternator. But now that it wobt even start im thibking there could be somr crazy electrical issue that isnt even getting energy to my spark plugs