Electric Cooling Fan in '87 Spider Veloce

[John Cecil <jcecil@domain.elided>]

Hello all-
I recently bought an '87 Spider Veloce located in Arlington, VA and drove it
back to California - about 3,400 miles. I had no real problems; got 29-35
mpg and used 1 qt. of oil. On incident has me a little stumped. When I
arrived in Needles, CA where the ambient temp. was 115 deg., I shut down the
engine and noticed that an auxiliary cooling fan located on the front of the
radiator and AC condenser was running. It continued to run and never would
shut off even as the coolant temperature had gone well below 175. I finally
disconnected the battery and let the car cool down overnight; the problem
did not reoccur. Incidently, the car never indicated a hint of overheating.
Even in Needles, with AC on, the coolant temp. didn't exceed around 190 deg.
I was unaware that Alfas used an electric fan for back-up cooling and it is
not mentioned in the owners manual. It certainly looks like a factory
installation and not an aftermarket item. Any ideas on the reason for the
fan 's refusal to turn off and where is the sensor that it apparently uses
to determine temperature? Maybe it uses a simple timer to shut off.
Inquiring minds need to know.
Regards,
--John Cecil
<jcecil@domain.elided>
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