Auxillary (radiator) fan on when cold.

[Chris Briggs]

I don't know if this is normal or not but I have noticed when I am using the Climate Control even in the winter that the auxillary fan immediately turns on. It did a little experiment and tried all the fan settings manualy and found that the defrost, high and low, and the actual AC Max setting where the only ones that were kicking on the radiator fan. The vent, and floor fans do not. After reading I see that these same settings that turned on the auxillary fan will also turn on the AC unit when neccesary. The AC however is not engaged as it is 30 degrees out and it will only start (the AC) at 50 or above outside. Is this normal for the auxillary fan to kick on even when cold as some sort of safety measure when possible AC fan settings are made in case of the AC kicking on and it's just not smart enough to know that it's cold or is it defective?

Thanks

CB

 

[Mr Anonymous]

This is normal. The A/C compressor still runs when outside air is cold to help dehumidify the cabin air when set to Auto, A/C, or Defrost.

 

[Chris Briggs]

That is good to hear, is there a difference then in the way the compressor works in the winter vs the summertime when you actually use it for cooling? In the manual it says it will not run with outside temp under 50 degrees so is it just in a different mode strictly to dehumidfy or is it that it just runs for quick second bursts in the winter instead of continuously in the summer? I do apologize if this is a stupid question but I just don't know much about the A/C system.