A/C Aux fan...how important???

[Guelphguy]

Well, all summer the aux fan worked but sounded like there were marbles rolling around in it when it ran. Was out with my wife the other night, had the windows down, sitting at some lights and heard a "clunk-bang" sound from the front of the car...
Looked around the car while she went into Winners to go shopping and sure enough the fan is now seized...
Been like that for 4 days now and to be quite honest, I have not noticed a real change in my A/C performance or the temperature of the car?? I do mostly highway driving however....
Does it really need replacing, seems like it is a pretty expensive part!!

[winfred]

not having it will put a lot of strain on the ac compressor when the car is not moving and possibly shorten it's life (seen it), head pressure could reach high enough to blow a hose (seen it), while the car is moving more then a few mph the fan is not needed, new fan from dealer is hideously expensive but one from a salvaged car could be a good deal

[Kalevera]

The magnets love to fall out and jam the commutator on those. E30 is famous for it.

Replacing it is up to you. The car will likely overheat with the A/C on when idling in traffic. That's the risk one takes. In theory, A/C performance should also deteriorate as llong as air flow is down (aka - fan not moving, neither is the car).



best, whit


edit: sorry, winfred, opened this post before you replied and then replied after you had.