I was driving one day when I suddenly noticed my air conditioner was blowing out warm. I looked at my temperature gauge and saw it rising. It was probably around 3/4 of the way up. I turn the air conditioner off. The temperature dropped a little bit but still hovered too high.

I managed to make it home. When I shut off the car, the other fan kept running. I noticed on the bottom of the car a partially melted trash bag clinging to it. After about 5 to 10 minutes, the working fan finally turned off.

I suspect the trash bag got tangled into the one fan and caused it to shut down. I’ve run the car since then around town plus at least two 75 mile round-trips, and the car has performed fine with both fans working.

Did the one fan automatically shut down due to some automatic feature sensing the potentially tangled trash bag in it? That would make sense considering the other fan kept running to cool the car down after I turned it off.

I’m asking because I’m wondering if I have something to worry about because I’m getting ready to go on a long trip with the car. I’m hoping it’s not something as simple as the fan is going bad and it’s going to quit during the trip.

 

The trash bag was probably partially blocking the radiator. The fans were probably both on, but the blocked radiator made the cooling attempt inefficient.

The fans don't need to work on the highway. They need to work at low speeds.

 

IF the temp is high and you shut off the car, the fans will run until the car cools. Check your radiator and make sure it's filled to the top. DO NOT fill the overflow bottle, it should be 1/2 way between max and min.

 

If the bag wrapped into the fan, the fan would draw enough amps to blow the fuse and trigger a check engine light.

A fan malfunction will set a check engine light.

Which is why I'm thinking the bag was just obstructing the radiator.

Not a bad idea to check your coolant level. If coolant is missing, its either leaking or burning...which means the car isn't road trip ready.