I have a cracked cooling fan blade that is hitting the shroud. I first noticed it the day before yesterday as I was about to turn the ignition off after driving 20 minutes to get home . When I opened the hood, I noticed that the fan was cycling on with the A/C, but was cycling off after 10 seconds or so, and well in advance of the A/C. I'm embarrassed to say, on that day I did not notice the coolant temp.
Yesterday, on the drive home I noticed that sitting in traffic, idling, the A/C was not cooling. The coolant temp at that point was nearly pegged on H. Traffic ahead was moving, so I got rolling and every thing returned to normal. In the little bit of stop and go after I got off the interstate, same deal. Temp began to rise, no A/C at idle, or more accurately while not moving.
Got home, raised the hood, checked the coolant ( full ) and noticed that the only time the cooling fan was on was when the compressor would cycle on, and then only for 10 seconds or so.
My wife drives this car on a daily basis, but since she's out of town, I was driving it. I called her and she said that the A/C had been fine in traffic, so, I am guessing that this is a new development.
I guess this is a long winded way of asking, what is the normal operation of the cooling fan? I understand that is is a variable speed motor, but shouldn't it be full on any time the A/C clutch is engaged, or when at idle with the engine slightly above normal operating temp? I need to replace the fan blade, but I'm suspicious of the way the motor is behaving.