Grand Vitara 2006 diesel sudden fault

[AnnieP]

Need help tracing a sudden fault. I have a Suzuki Grand Vitara diesel 2006. For an older car it hasn’t seemed to have many issues except that the fuel gauge stopped working a few months ago but was running fine. Yesterday after driving for about 10km the engine fan came on and the thermostat shot into the red. I immediately stopped and the fan continued to run after I removed the ignition key. On inspection the engine was NOT overheating in fact it was barely warm. I had the vehicle towed home as I didn’t want to risk causing any damage. Since then the Thermostat is still showing red as soon as I turn the ignition on. The vehicle runs but there is no power in the throttle. When I turn the ignition off and remove the key the fan comes on and will run for about 10/15 minutes. Has anyone got any ideas? Help?

[ScottieJ]

Sounds like there is a short circuit somewhere. If the temp guage sender wire is out striaght to an Earth it will shoot all the way up.

I'm not familiar with the diesel GVs but if they use a combined sender unit for the guage, fan switch and ECU then a short or faulty sender could cause the fan to come on, the guage to shoot up and the ECU to put the car into limp mode to protect it from the 'overheating'.

[AnnieP]

Thanks for your reply. Does anyone know where the temperature sensor is located? It’s a Renault engine I think 1.9 diss thanks