P0529
Fan Speed Sensor Circuit Intermittent
- Severity
- Medium
- Driving
- Drivable — book it in
The cooling fan speed signal is dropping out intermittently. The fan may be working perfectly and losing its feedback, or it may genuinely be stalling - a motor with worn brushes does exactly this as it warms up.
Possible causes
- CommonFailed fan speed sensor
- CommonFailed or seizing cooling fan motor
- CommonCorroded connector or damaged wiring
- PossibleDebris jamming the fan
- PossibleFailed fan control module or relay
What you might notice
- Engine running hotter than usual, particularly in traffic
- Cooling fan not running, or running constantly
- Air conditioning performance poor at low speed
- Temperature gauge climbing when stationary
- Check engine light on
What to check, in order
- Watch the temperature gauge in slow traffic. A cooling 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.
- Check whether the fan runs at all when the engine is hot or the air conditioning is on.
- Inspect the connector and wiring at the fan.
- Check for debris in the fan and that it spins freely with the engine off and cool.
- Do not let the engine overheat while diagnosing this. If the gauge climbs, stop.
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
Vehicle speed control, idle control and auxiliary inputs
P0500P0501P0502P0503P0504P0505P0506P0507P0508P0509P0510P0511P0512P0513P0514P0515P0516P0517P0518P0519P0520P0521P0522P0523P0524P0525P0526P0527P0528P0529P0530P0531P0532P0533P0534P0535P0536P0537P0538P0539P0540P0541P0542P0543P0544P0545P0546P0547P0548P0549P0550P0551P0552P0553P0554P0555P0556P0557P0558P0559P0560P0561P0562P0563P0564P0565P0566P0567P0568P0569P0570P0571P0572P0573P0574P0575P0576P0577P0578P0579P0580P0581P0582P0583P0584P0585P0586P0587P0588P0589P0590P0591P0592P0593P0594P0595P0596P0597P0598P0599