After digging through the archives and looking everywhere I can think, I have decided to reach out here and see if someone has also has this issue.

My son's 2004 R53 has an interesting issue. A few days ago his engine fan came on after he shut the car off. He asked me to take a look and here is what I found. The power steering pump would come on when they key is in the on position but the engine is not running. When the ignition is turned off the pump stops. I have never seen this before and made the assumption that the control module in the power steering pump was shot. Put the car up in the air and discovered that the PS fan was toast. Replaced the PS pump and the PS fan today. The problem still exists. The PS Pump comes on when the key is in the on position without the engine running. With the engine running I checked to see if the PS fan or the Radiator fan would come on and I have neither the low speed radiator fan or the PS fan. I swapped a good radiator fan assembly to test and nothing changed. I then swapped the relays under the hood and also nothing changed.

I'm at a loss and want to make sure I'm not missing something simple before I start to think maybe it's a wiring issue. What am I missing here guys? My wife and I have an '05 and '06 and I have never fought with something like this. Thanks for all your help!

 

Well, the behavior sort of makes sense. The power steering pump is electric and that it comes on when the key is switched on, the ignition is switched on, makes sense. If the ignition is on and the engine dies or stalls at least the power steering pump continues to run so one can steer the vehicle.

(Lost a V-belt off my 2002 VW Golf while on the freeway. Things were fine until I got off the freeway and stopped at a light. When the light changed and I went to make a sharp left the wheel felt like it was locked. It took a considerable amount of force to turn the wheel with no power steering boost.)

 

I get that but this is a new development. Typically the power steering pump does not come on until the car is started. Now it is coming on when the key is in the on position and the car has not been started. That in addition to the radiator and PS fan issues speak to a different problem - that's what I was hoping to get some help on.

 

With other cars things coming on when they shouldn't has been a bad ignition switch. If one can affect the behavior of various electrical systems in the car by pushing the key radially (in different directions) as the ignition is turned to on that's a good sign the ignition switch is bad.