Car has had virtually no issues up until recently (you know.. once I took ownership of it). I've run into a few cooling issues. Had a pinhole leak develop in a coolant hose which should have left me stranded in Telluride and after returning from a trip to Yellowstone I realized either my fan or fan module had gone bad. I still have to trace the trigger wire in case it has broken somewhere else up the line, but am expecting to need to replace the module and would rather just do the fan w/module and be done with it going forward.

Since the dual fans seem to be the same price or less I figured that would be my best route. Is it the single fan variant in particular that goes bad or do they all tend to go bad? If they all tend to go bad then I would be inclined to pony up for a new one, but I can't seem to get a genuine one right now (without paying out the nose). I can, however, get a VDO assembly and was wondering if anyone could vouch for that one. In my little bit of reading the aftermarket ones tend to be trash, but I would hope that is for ali and sketchy ebay listings not.. VDO lol.

TLDR - How long do the dual fans last? VDO dual fan yay or nay? https://www.youtube.com/c/HeelTow

I learned that the fan module will set a code when it starts to fail, typically before actual complete failure.

Does not set the CEL, but probably good to scan this car once a month to see what kind of trouble might be brewing.

Aftermarket fan control modules are junk, no good answer there. I would suspect that an entire fan assembly from VDO would be reliable, assuming it's control model isn't sourced from china.

I'm on my second fan unit at 160K. I would have done the dual fan last time but was about to leave on a road trip and didn't have time to source it.

Thanks for the feedback - I have a bunch of vehicle specific diagnostic tools but no generic scan tool surprisingly enough. I'll pick one up and see what code it feeds me. If I had to guess it is the module as the fan is typically working. For me.. as long as it isn't the trigger wire it is probably best to just replace the fan since you can't buy one without the module and I also know full well that the fan bearings go bad (and aren't easily serviceable?) on these and the fan has never been changed. It does seem that you wouldn't suggest buying a used unit giving you've replaced it twice by 160k. I have too many project cars to deal with and want to be under this car as little as possible quite frankly. I think I'll end up giving the VDO unit a try at least I'll have warranty on it. https://www.youtube.com/c/HeelTow