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Hey guys,

On my 02 Civic ex w/ 30,000 miles, I've noticed when my car is sitting idle with the a/c off, that the radiator fan will turn for about 7 seconds and then turn off. I've never noticed this before as I rarely let the car sit idle as I'm usually inside the cabin of the car to let it warm up before driving somewhere.

So while standing outside the car while it's sitting idle, the radiator fan will come on, then turn off quickly. A minute later the fan will turn on again. The coolant is at maximum level, and the coolant gauge inside of the car never raises above the halfway mark as I don't drive my Civic but just around town.

Is this normal for the radiator fan to turn on like this, and this often? I noticed this happening at night when I barely drove the car to a friend's house. The coolant needle was below the halfway mark.

 
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yeah it's normal for the fan to turn on....just don't turn on/off ur AC while driving cuz it's bad for the compressor.

 
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Really how so?

 
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I would also like to know how that is bad for your compressor?

But yes it is normal for the fan to kick on and off at idle more then when driving because when you are driving you have the air being forced through the radiator and that cools down the coolant passing through the radiator, but when you are at idle, you dont have air being forced through the radiator thus the fan needs to come on more to compensate for that. Same as when you turn on the ac, with the added load, the fan will also kick on more.