Little fan behind the bumper. What does it do?

[gatorglaze]

Okay so i have a gen 4 altima and i noticed there was a little fan propeller blade doohickey behind the bumper in the engine bay. What exactly does that do? should it spin while the engine is on? I had my car in park with the engine on and i wanted to poke around the engine bay, check to see if all my wiring for my lights and stuff weren't moving around and i noticed the fan just chilling there not moving.

[adidas2go]

Pushes air around the engine to cool it when your not driving. It only kicks on when the thermostat activates it. IE- sitting still with the engine on, it gets to hot, fan turns on, cools engine to the point of comfortable operating temperature

[Deke40]

That fan is what keeps your engine coolant temperature in the proper range. If you are moving down the road it is not needed most of the time depending on the outside temperature and whether you are using the AC.

In most cars if you turn on the AC it will come on instantly. It can also come on after you turn off your engine so be careful poking around under the hood. It is hard to access but still be careful. The best thing to do is if your are going to be in the vicinity of the fan unplug it to be extra careful.

On the old engines that were mounted longitudley you had a belt driven fan but on the transverse engines they have to use electric fans.

[gatorglaze]

Is there anyway to check if my fans are operation besides cranking the AC because my AC is shot to my knowledge and i just found out today so i have to schedule an appointment to get that fixed up.

[08Coupe]

Im not sure but most cars have a system check mode (example acc. mode depress gas pedel 5 times) then the car cycles all electric systems wipers,lights, fans,ect...Not sure on how on the altima..

Or you can drive HARD for 15 minutes pop the hood and check

[TheBourneAltimatum]

Or you can drive H.A.R.D. for 15 minutes pop the hood and check

so you want him to drive High And Ridiculously Drunk for 15 mins?!?!

[08Coupe]

so you want him to drive High And Ridiculously Drunk for 15 mins?!?!

Step away from the BONG!!

[TheBourneAltimatum]

Step away from the BONG!!

i dont smoke thank you very much

[adidas2go]

Is there anyway to check if my fans are operation besides cranking the AC because my AC is shot to my knowledge and i just found out today so i have to schedule an appointment to get that fixed up.

Just go out and drive your car one day. Enough to get it up to operating temp between the H and C. Then bring the car home and let it sit for 10 min, with the hood popped. After a given period, the thermostat will need to turn on the fan to keep the coolant cool enough. Have you ever noticed your car overheat? (Go above the halfway point on the temperature gauge). If not, you car is perfectly fine.

[gatorglaze]

I ran the auto active test where it just simply turns on a bunch of gadgets to see whats working and what isnt, and my fans turned on, first at lower speed then full speed so the fans are fine. Now i simply have to bring my car in Tuesday and leave it overnight HOPEFULLY picking it up on Wednesday with a fixed AC. What good timing, i JUST dropped my trigonometry class that was on Tuesday/Thursday because i needed a 94 on my final JUST to get a 70. Other words, id be screwing my GPA in the poopshoot. This way i can actually go 2 days without a car. I sure hope they dont screw my wallet in the poopshoot.