Used Mercedes-Benz GLA Radiator Fan

Yes, the GLA does have an electric radiator fan (also called a cooling fan or fan cowl assembly) mounted at the front of the engine bay behind the radiator. Unlike older mechanically-driven fans, the GLA uses an electric motor-driven fan, and the specification can vary depending on your engine code and whether you have additional cooling demands such as air conditioning. It is a genuine used part you can source from a breaker.

The GLA X156 ran from 2013 to 2019, with a facelift arriving in 2017, and while many cooling components carried over across that facelift, the fan assembly or its mounting bracket may have seen detail changes mid-production. Name the generation boundary confidently — pre-facelift 2013–2017 versus facelift 2017–2019 — but whether a specific fan unit crosses that boundary safely is something you should confirm with the breaker against your exact registration and engine code.

Engine code matters significantly here — the fan motor rating, shroud design, and connector type can differ between petrol and diesel variants and between different power outputs even where they share the same basic engine family. Your engine code (found on your V5C or via a VIN check) is the single most useful detail you can give a breaker, as it identifies the exact cooling specification your car was built with. Do not assume a fan from a 1.6 petrol GLA 200 will drop straight into a 2.1 diesel GLA 220d without checking.

Yes, the badge reflects different engines with different cooling demands, so the fan assembly fitted from the factory can vary between these variants. The GLA 250 with its higher-output petrol engine, for example, may have a different fan specification to the GLA 200, and the 220d diesel has its own cooling requirements. Always supply your engine code to the breaker rather than just the badge name to get the right match.

Trim level does not affect the radiator fan fitment — Sport, AMG Line, Urban, and other trim grades on the GLA share the same engine-driven cooling system specification for a given engine code. The fan you need is determined by your engine code, fuel type, and gearbox, not by whether your car has different alloys or interior detailing. You may find minor cosmetic differences in how surrounding trim pieces look on a part pulled from a different-spec car, but the fan unit itself is not trim-dependent.

The second-generation GLA, the H247, launched in 2020 on an entirely new platform and is not the same vehicle as the first-generation X156, so the two generations do not share radiator fan assemblies. Even where engine families appear similar across the generations, the fan shroud, mounting points, and electrical connectors differ between these distinct platforms. You should source a fan from the correct generation for your car, confirmed by your registration and engine code with the breaker.