When its hot out, fan kicks on...after I shut down.
 

This has happened three times in the last few months. Here in Alabama, its hot as hell. When I turn off the engine, the radiator fan kicks on, and it will stay on for about 10 minutes, unless I turn the key on, not start, and then it will turn off.

A bit strange. Is this normal?

Yup, it's normal on super hot days.

Happens to me on every single shut down in the summer here, its just cooling the car off.

I'm lucky as the last 5 or so miles of my commute occurs on a 40 mph backroad, which seems to give it enough time to have cooled by the time she hits the garage. But still once or maybe twice a week on hot days, she'll do that.

Oh and I would stop trying to defeat that feature, there's a reason they have that fan come on :)

I wasnt purposely trying to defeat it. I just didnt see that in the manual, and I just worry when battery draining fans kick on....Its all good now.

I didn't see it in the manual either (probably in there somewhere though), and ended up asking on here too years ago ;)

It's sooooo hard though to just walk away from the car and go inside with the fans running... trusting they're going to turn off on their own. It's like trusting the light in the fridge really goes off when you close the door, lol.

Do any other cars have fans which do this? Or is it unique to the 8 because the rotary gets soooo hot?

No, other cars have it too. I have a modified '02 1.8t Jetta that if I run her like I stole her, will do that too.

It is rare for other cars I have driven to keep the fan on, but it happened every now and then. Out here in vegas it hits 110+ degrees out frequently so thats why my fan is always on.

Normal..

In your case OP, leave the fans run, they will turn off automatically.

my rx7 and my rx8 does it, but the rx8 does it alot more and for longer
I am glad mazda learned some lessons

What's weird with my car is that the fan will stay on when the temps are ~85F or so. But on hotter days, the fan will turn off right away.

Always makes me WTF.

I am used to fans running on all the cars I've owned, so I just walk away and ignore it.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering the same thing. Virginia Beach today- heat index of 108. FML.

Series 2's also have a PCM Temperature Sensor that will also Turn Fans on at medium speed IF Engine Compartment Temperature (PCM) Exceeds 110F.

For the doubters...ONLY in Series 2's

PCM TEMPERATURE SENSOR FUNCTION [13B-MSP]
�� Detects the temperature of the PCM.

PCM TEMPERATURE SENSOR CONSTRUCTION/OPERATION [13B-MSP]
�� The PCM temperature sensor is integrated with PCM.
�� A thermistor-type sensor (negative pressure thermistor) has been adopted.
�� Voltage is output based on the resistance value which changes according to the temperature of the PCM.
PCM temperature sensor characteristic

Even my '75 VW Rabbit (Golf) did that.

Spooked me the first time it happened on my 2010. But I have seen it on other cars from quite sime time ago so I knew what it was and walked away.......I went back to the garage 10 mins later to check it had gone off though (and grabbed a cold beer as I was near the beer fridge).

My fan has been behaving a bit differently lately. When it is warm the fan comes on however if I switch the engine off the fan goes off within a minute. I it turn the ignition back on again then the fan kicks in.

I was wondering if there is a problem with one of the sensors. Te only change I made was to add a second oil cooler.

I don't think it would have any effect with the addition of the second oil cooler. Just as mentioned by most and as ASH8 said:
You'd rather have a cooler engine than a vert "hot" one.

Page 7-18 and again on 8-10. If that wasn't enough, then on 8-16 of the 05 manual.....for what it's worth. How'd you miss it so many times? :dunno:

I have the hood dampers, so it's easy to just raise my hood for awhile when I pull into the garage. I do this just to let the heat get out quicker and hopefully cool down a little faster.

Whether I pop the hood or not, my fans will generally go off after about three minutes, but it's a long ass three minutes when you are waiting for it to happen. Seems like forever! :banghead:

My fan cuts out within a minute of switching the engine off. If I leave the keys on accessories then the fan keeps going. If I switch off then the fan goes off and comes back on if I switch to acc again.

I have only noticed this behavior recently. Originally the fan used to go on for ages after parking.