when i got home 2 nights ago and shut off my xj, the electric fan stayed on until i unhooked the plug for it. havent tried plugging it back in yet and im not TOO worried about it for the colder months, but im still wondering if anyone has had this problem or know whats up? im thinking it might be a coolant temp. sensor but i dont know enough about these too be certain.

 

How long was it on before you unhooked it. It's not unusual for many vehicles with electric fans to keep them kicked on to cool things down after the car is off. However, it shouldn't be an excessive amount of time.

 

My moms old Honda civic would do this. On hot summer months it would even kick on when the car hadn't been running.

 

The electric cooling fan for a 1998 XJ is controlled by a relay that is located inside of the "power distribution center", the black box under the hood on the passenger side. Clearly marked once you pop the top on the PDC.

I would think that power to the PDC would be killed when the ignition is turned off, but keep this relay in mind as something to check out if this continues. All of the relays in the PDC are of the same part number, so they can be swapped with any of the others for troubleshooting purposes.

 

I left it alone for a good 5+ minutes before unplugging it. It's not like the motor was any hotter than operating temp plus it was below freezing and snowing out so I think it wouldn't stay on because it was hot

I tried starting the jeep for about 2 minutes then shutting it off again and it remained running, I'll have to check out the PDC. Do you think it may need a new fuse? If not where do I go from there? I forgot mention the jeep threw a code not long before I got home that night and it was gone the next day having it sat overnight with the e-fan unplugged and never plugged back in.

 

If the check engine light came on, you should have a "stored code", even if the light isn't on any more.

Pull the code and post the exact number here for comment. You will need either a code reader, a scan tool, or take it to a parts store like Autozone that reads codes for free.

That code is extremely valuable here....

 

I'll be done class around 3, I'll go to advanced right after and get the code for you. I appreciate the help man.