Over the weekend my family and I headed out to dinner, and as I pulled out of the driveway the radiator hose came disconnected and all of my fluid spilled out onto the driveway and street. We reconnected the hose, filled up the fluid and did a quick check of the engine and noticed that the cooling fans were not turning on.
My first question is do the cooling fans run all of the time, or just when the engine is too hot, or the AC is on full blast?

We bought a cooling fan relay kit and only replaced the pigtail.
My husband drove the car around today to test it out- he hopped out at a couple stop lights to check the engine and the fans were never on, although the temperature of my engine was normal. And there are also error codes showing up: P0480 and P0073.

Has anyone experienced this, or have any insight on what could possibly be the problem? Do we just need to drive the car around enough that the codes reset themselves?

2007 Chrysler Pacifica base model

 

I also failed to mention that the cooling fans turn on when the AC is on full blast.

 

Below are the descriptions for the DTC codes you mention:

P0480-COOLING FAN 1 CONTROL CIRCUIT/OPEN
Possible Causes
INTERMITTENT DTC
(K173) RAD FAN RELAY CONTROL CIRCUIT SHORTED TO GROUND
(K173) RAD FAN RELAY CONTROL CIRCUIT OPEN OR HIGH RESISTANCE
(Z723) GROUND CIRCUIT OPEN OR HIGH RESISTANCE
RADIATOR FAN CONTROL RELAY
POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE (PCM)

P0073-AMBIENT AIR TEMPERATURE SENSOR CIRCUIT HIGH
Possible Causes
(G31) AAT SIGNAL CIRCUIT SHORTED TO VOLTAGE
(G31) AAT SIGNAL CIRCUIT OPEN OR HIGH RESISTANCE
(C918) SENSOR GROUND CIRCUIT OPEN OR HIGH RESISTANCE
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE SENSOR
BODY CONTROL MODULE (BCM)
.

As noted in the fan operation chart, the fans do not always operate until the coolant reaches the specified temperatures.

Good luck on resolving your concerns asap!


RADIATOR FAN OPERATION CHART

COOLANT TEMPERATURE

A/C PRESSURE

TRANSAXLE OIL TEMPERATURE

Fan Operation Speeds: Initial Max Initial Max Initial Max Fan On: 104°C (220°F) 110°C (230°F) Fan Speed Duty-Cycles (Ramps-up) from 50% to 99% 1,724 Kpa (250 psi) 2,068 Kpa (300 psi) Fan Speed Duty-Cycles (Ramps-up) from 50% to 99% 98°C (208°F) 109°C (228°F) Fan Speed Duty Cycles (Ramps-up) from 50% to 99% Fan Off: 101°C (214°F) Fan Speed Duty-Cycles (Ramps-down) from 99% to 50% 1,379 Kpa (200 psi) Fan Speed Duty-Cycles (Ramps-down) from 99% to 50% 89°C (192°F) Fan Speed Duty Cycles (Ramps-down) from 99% to 50%