Loose tube in engine bay

[meccano04]

Hello all...
Firstly i drive a 2003 1.4 Megane
Today when starting my car it sounded very strange, and when i reveresed out of my driveway there was a large pool of water at the top, so i open the engine bay and the cover is off my window water fluid! and it is quite bent! So i put it back on and it sounds better (i assume it was touching something before)
I go about my business and return and check under the bonnet again just to check all is as normal and on the right hand side of the engine is a loose tube, it looks like its coming from the lower right side of the radiator grill, does anyone know what this is for?!
Also after my 20 mile journey (motorways included) when i stopped my radiator fan wasnt going, any idea if this is normal as well?!

Cheers

Stephen

[Jonault]

Post a picture of the pipe and someone might know what it is. As for the fan not working, it's probably cold enough for the coolant to be cooled by circulation alone. If you're sat in a traffic queue, that is the time when the fan is likely to kick in so I wouldn't be unduly worried unless the temperature gauge was heading up into the red.

[Ray]

i don't think the fan continues to run after the engine is off does it?
mine certainly never has.

[meccano04]

Ray - I hadnt turned the engine off yet!

I think i figured out what it is, the handbook says that if changing the battery you must be sure to reconect a hose as an exhaust for gasses (from the battery) and whoever had my car before me has replaced the original battery (i know this as the new one says its designed for diesel engines) so im sure that this hose must have been connected to the old battery, and it run down to the front grill, near the radiator to expel said gasses.
The bends in the hose seem to confirm this as if i place them where they rest naturally it sits next to the battery.

[pw981]

The fan isn't always on, it only comes on if needed and can stay on for a while after the engine is off - if the required parameters are met. (high external temperatures etc)

[cactusbob]

If it's quite a thin tube with a right angled connector at the end then it is the battery breather tube