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You are in the last month of the warranty. You have at least one opinion that says a component needs to be replaced. I struggle to see the problem you are wrestling with here. If you get the cooling fan replaced it will likely cost you a line item deductible on the warranty, typically ~$100. You will then have peace of mind that it is taken care of by a trained professional and the replacement part will be under warranty for a period of time.
Now, suppose you decide to forego the repair out of some kind of displaced loyalty to a another dealer. Next month the cooling fan fails, as predicted by dealer A. You will now be on the hook for a $1600 repair. Why would you put yourself through that?
As far as the connection between the two, here is my suspicion. The cooling fan is struggling to keep up OR the coolant was low. In either case the vehicle was getting warmer than the computer (ECM) likes, causing the auxiliary components to be disabled to prevent the vehicle from overheating. It is a protective program that will keep the car from lasting damage for as long as possible if something is going wrong according to the sensors. Pretty common actually.
So - BOTH dealers may be right. The cooling fan may have failed or been taxed due to low coolant causing the vehicle temp to go up, causing sensor to go into "safe mode" which disabled cooling system. When coolant added, system return to normal. Fan no longer taxed by temperatures above normal, all is good. Failure of cooling fan may have ben a result of built-in programming - or not. If you can get it replaced for little or nothing, why take the risk?
You are in the last month of the warranty. You have at least one opinion that says a component needs to be replaced. I struggle to see the problem you are wrestling with here. If you get the cooling fan replaced it will likely cost you a line item deductible on the warranty, typically ~$100. You will then have peace of mind that it is taken care of by a trained professional and the replacement part will be under warranty for a period of time.
Now, suppose you decide to forego the repair out of some kind of displaced loyalty to a another dealer. Next month the cooling fan fails, as predicted by dealer A. You will now be on the hook for a $1600 repair. Why would you put yourself through that?
As far as the connection between the two, here is my suspicion. The cooling fan is struggling to keep up OR the coolant was low. In either case the vehicle was getting warmer than the computer (ECM) likes, causing the auxiliary components to be disabled to prevent the vehicle from overheating. It is a protective program that will keep the car from lasting damage for as long as possible if something is going wrong according to the sensors. Pretty common actually.
So - BOTH dealers may be right. The cooling fan may have failed or been taxed due to low coolant causing the vehicle temp to go up, causing sensor to go into "safe mode" which disabled cooling system. When coolant added, system return to normal. Fan no longer taxed by temperatures above normal, all is good. Failure of cooling fan may have ben a result of built-in programming - or not. If you can get it replaced for little or nothing, why take the risk?
The first half of your post seems logical. However, I think we're getting a little terminology mixup in the second part. The OP's vehicle AC required more refrigerant(freon as we old timers like to say), not engine coolant which cools the engine. This is reason for the perplexity around the relationship between refrigerant and the cooling fan.
Yes, I'm having Dealership A replace the cooling fan. Why not? It's covered.
Dealership B -- from whom I have bought two cars and two premium extended warranties in 6 years -- openly HATE the warranty company. Warranty company apparently does not pay for the full repair. Dealership B probably prefers that Dealership A handle the mess. Pisses me off a bit, because THEY should be honoring their warranty and my business.
This is a Beetle, and getting to anything in that car means practically everything has to come out. Which is another reason Dealership B doesn't want to do it. I think Dealership B needs to man up. They sell these cars, and didn't mind selling the warranty.
There is so much vague information in this thread that it is impossible to give a solid answer. The term "cooling fan" leads me to believe it is the one that draws air through the radiator and condenser. If that is defective, yes, it could affect cooling somewhat because the condenser needs to have air moving over it to function properly. But that is only a secondary function of that fan, the first is to keep the ENGINE at the proper temperature.
The BLOWER fan is the one that you feel blowing in your face when ac is on high. Some cars, you have to remove things like a fender or most of the dash to get these out, so the bill could be high.
I suspect that the dealer is replacing the one that cools the engine, and yes, that can cost that much, depending on the car. Some cars, you can slip the fans right out, some cars, not so easy, lots of parts have to be removed to get to it.
So, which fan are we talking about?
As for why ac can need topped off occasionally, they have yet to invent a 100% leakfree ac system, even home units will need an occasional shot to top them off. The "freon" gets by seals ever so slightly, and as the unit ages, it gets worse.
Which would seem like enough of an incentive to not do it... They don't call em stealerships for nothing.. Don't tell me that notion is completely incorrect too....
Your notion is only correct if the warranty company is nasty - if the service department can't work with a warranty company, the sales department will stop selling that warranty & the problem fixes itself. As for not paying retail, the manufacturers do it too & dealers love love love factory warranties anyway. It's a very easy cow to milk. You don't have to "sell" anything to a customer, you just have to convince the warranty company to pay.
Yep. Extended warranty companies rarely pay the full labor amount like you and I would off the street. Just the way it works.
Extended warranties are like rebates on toasters and other stuff you buy. Half the people never use them, so they build that into the deal and how they make their money.
When you turn the A/C on, a relay turns on the condenser fan. [doesn't matter if the engine fan is running or not] If the fan doesn't come on, either the relay or the fan is defective. If the fan operates and there's no strange noise, there's no problem.
Don1945 -- this is the fan that cools the engine. Weird thing is that I never had a "check engine" light come on. Dealership A said they found a fault with it during inspection (at that time, they didn't know I had an extended warranty). Thanks for the comments! They were very helpful.
^^^^
Check engine light will not come on with an A/C problem on any vehicle. CEL is for engine related pollution control sensors.
Ahh...got it. I'm wondering why the light didn't come on if the cooling fan was faulty / not working.
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