P0484
Fan Circuit Over Current
- Severity
- High
- Driving
- Drivable — book it in
The cooling fan circuit is drawing more current than it should. Something is making the fan motor work far harder than normal - most often the motor itself failing, or debris jamming the blades. Left alone, this blows fuses and can overheat the wiring.
Possible causes
- CommonFailed fan motor
- CommonFailed fan relay or control module
- CommonBlown fuse on the fan circuit
- CommonCorroded connector or damaged wiring
- PossibleDebris jamming the fan
- PossibleCorroded earth at the fan
- RareFailed control module driver
- CommonFan motor bearings failing, so the motor draws excessive current
- CommonDebris jamming or dragging on the fan blades
- PossibleShorted wiring in the fan circuit
What you might notice
- Engine running hot in traffic but cool at speed
- Cooling fan not running, or running constantly
- Air conditioning performance poor at low speed
- Temperature gauge climbing when stationary
- Check engine light on
- Blown fuses, sometimes repeatedly
- Noise from the fan
- Smell of hot electrical insulation
What to check, in order
- Check for debris in the fan and that it spins freely by hand with the engine off and cool.
- Listen for bearing noise from the fan motor.
- If a fuse keeps blowing, find the cause before fitting another one - repeatedly replacing a fuse on an overloaded circuit is how wiring catches fire.
- Inspect the wiring for chafing and heat damage.
- Watch the temperature gauge in slow traffic and stop if it climbs. A fan fault shows itself when the car is stationary and clears at speed, because airflow through the radiator does the fan's job - that pattern is the clearest evidence available and costs nothing to observe.
- Check whether the fan runs at all when the engine is hot or the air conditioning is on.
- Check the fuse and swap the relay with an identical one from elsewhere in the box.
- Inspect the connector and the fan earth for corrosion.
- Check for debris in the fan and that it spins freely with the engine off and cool.
Read this code from your own car
Plug an ELM327 adapter into the OBD-II port under the dashboard. Pin16 reads every stored, pending and permanent code, explains each one like this page does — offline, with no account — and shows what the car recorded when the fault was set.
Where this code sits
P00xxP01xxP02xxP03xxP04xxP05xxP06xxP07xxP08xxP09xxP0AxxP0BxxP0CxxP0DxxP0ExxP0FxxP10xxP11xxP12xxP13xxP14xxP15xxP16xxP17xxP18xxP19xxP1AxxP1BxxP1CxxP1DxxP1ExxP1FxxP20xxP21xxP22xxP23xxP24xxP25xxP26xxP27xxP28xxP29xxP2AxxP2BxxP2CxxP2DxxP2ExxP2FxxP30xxP31xxP32xxP33xxP34xxP35xxP36xxP37xxP38xxP39xxP3AxxP3BxxP3CxxP3DxxP3ExxP3Fxx
Auxiliary emission controls
P0400P0401P0402P0403P0404P0405P0406P0407P0408P0409P0410P0411P0412P0413P0414P0415P0416P0417P0418P0419P0420P0421P0422P0423P0424P0425P0426P0427P0428P0429P0430P0431P0432P0433P0434P0435P0436P0437P0438P0439P0440P0441P0442P0443P0444P0445P0446P0447P0448P0449P0450P0451P0452P0453P0454P0455P0456P0457P0458P0459P0460P0461P0462P0463P0464P0465P0466P0467P0468P0469P0470P0471P0472P0473P0474P0475P0476P0477P0478P0479P0480P0481P0482P0483P0484P0485P0486P0487P0488P0489P0490P0491P0492P0493P0494P0495P0496P0497P0498P0499