Drained battery, then cooling fan turns on?

Tiny
LEOTHENITUS9
  • MEMBER
  • 2013 KIA SORENTO
  • V6
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 145,000 MILES
Came to a drained battery... Then had the battery charged and tested at an AutoZone. No battery issues and the battery is now fully charged. Put the battery back in and then the cooling fan suddenly turns on under the hood and nothing else. No engine turnover or anything.
I get the fan might be a bad relay... But why won’t the car start?
Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 11:04 AM

9 Replies

Tiny
AL514
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,699 POSTS
Hello, with the fans on constantly that is a sign that the engine computer is not communicating. It's a default strategy when the fans stay on like that. Does the Check engine light come on with just the key in the on position?
And what size engine does the vehicle have, so we can look up the correct wiring diagrams.
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Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 12:01 PM
Tiny
LEOTHENITUS9
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Thanks! No, no check engine lights.
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Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 12:09 PM
Tiny
LEOTHENITUS9
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It’s a V6 engine.
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Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 12:09 PM
Tiny
AL514
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Okay, with no check engine light coming on the PCM is not being fully powered up, these are the fuses to check first, the battery did not get hooked by backwards by any chance, did it? There is a Battery current sensor on the Negative battery post, it did not get unbolted from the actual cable connector that goes on the negative battery post? On some of these battery current sensors, once they are unbolted from the cable, that nut and bolt break on some of these and are not reusable. It's designed like that; the battery current sensor also has a Lin bus communication wire that comes off of it that goes to the PCM. I'll try to find a picture of it.
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Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 12:17 PM
Tiny
AL514
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The torque spec for the negative terminal with a current sensor on it is only 3 to 4 ft lbs, which is very little. Over tightening it can damage the current sensor internal circuit board.
When the battery is being recharged in the vehicle the ground clamp from the charger should be grounded to the vehicle body and not to the battery negative terminal.
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Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 12:30 PM
Tiny
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Okay, got the fan to stop by cleaning out the fuse for it.
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Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 12:51 PM
Tiny
LEOTHENITUS9
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Tried jumping it but still a no go.
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Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 12:52 PM
Tiny
LEOTHENITUS9
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  • 6 POSTS
There is a “key” dash light- it’s the only light that comes on. Otherwise completely dead.
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Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 12:52 PM
Tiny
AL514
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Do you have a test light to go through all the fuses to see which ones have power? If any have power, we can see where it gets power from and work backwards from there. Also do you have a multimeter to see what the voltage at the battery is. Or is the battery dead already?
You pulled the fuse to get the fan to stop running?
It sounds like there is a main fuse in the engine compartment that might be blown, unless the battery is completely dead, if it is there might be a large parasitic draw on the battery that's just draining it extremely fast
This is a diagram of one of the Multi Fuses, you can see they are in a plastic case and can be difficult to see if one fuse is blown inside them, usually there will be a burn mark on the inside of the plastic where the fuse burned, but sometimes the entire multi Fuse can be difficult to get out and the cover doesn't usually come off them.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-a-car-fuse

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-a-voltmeter
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Saturday, October 14th, 2023 AT 1:19 PM

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