I have a '97 civic and am having issues with the A/C when at a stop. After some troubleshooting, I've discovered that the condenser fan will not spin up on its own but will spin just fine if you give it a tiny nudge to get the fan moving. Here's what I've been able to discern:

1) Fan will power up just fine on its own with a direct jumpers from positive battery terminal (~12.5 volts) and ground lug to fan connector posts.

2) When engine and A/C is on, voltage at the vehicle side of the fan connector is ~14.5 volts.

Anyone have any ideas for what the issue might be and how it can be solved? The fact that the fan spins fine off a direct battery link and the vehicle side connector is showing ample voltage implies to me that there is something causing a voltage drop in the connector. Is there something specific I could clean the connectors with, or can I replace the connectors without replacing the motor/wiring harness?


Edit:

I should mention that I went through some of the service manual's troubleshooting steps... checked the fuse, the relay, cleaned the ground. I eventually gave up on it since technically the troubleshooting is for when the condenser fan is completely dead which is not the case.

 

Sounds like a bad motor. They get "dead spots". Check the ground wire though. If you measure voltage between the two wires at the motor when it is all plugged in and supposed to be on, but it is not turning, motor is bad.

 

I don't quite understand what a "dead spot" would entail, but would that account for the fan running just fine jumped off the battery? That's the part that really nags me.

Is it possible to pull the fan housing and motor off the radiator without disassembling the whole thing? It looks like I can reach all the bolts (barely) but its hard to tell if it will be able to slip out.