Maybe those fans are made in Aussie ????

Down Under ... [ get it ?????]

Amen Arthur,

Already figured it out, after looking at what a pain it would be to remove fans etc. From your prior advice on the jump at the press switch protocol, it was easy to disconnect the fans, jump and see no spin, reverse fan connection, jump and sweet Jesus, they spin the right way.

What is really delightful is that it now stays right on temp. When the low speed aux fan comes on with thermal load/press increase the temp actually drops a bit and stays rock steady. Prior to this, the aux fan comes on low, the temp then climbs more, pretty soon the high speed fan switch engages and then it all goes down the tubes.

Now, even the air blowing out the vent stays cooler because the temp diff at the condenser is better, i.e bringing in ambient temp air across condenser instead of hot engine compartment air. Now the wife is pleased, I feel somewhat vindicated, and the forum has solved the issue. The sharing of knowledge is such a delight on this forum, and your contributions are truly priceless.

Thanks,

Martin Wolf

The fan is indeed blowing the wrong way, in the opposite direction of the arrow. I had a closer look, and the vanes are in the same direction as those on the other, original fan. Clearly, it is not blowing air the way it should. However, I looked at some pics of genuine ACM fans online, and I think that's what I have, so good news there. Apparently, the mechanic is just inept, not dishonest. Shame his ineptitude likely forced me to replace my radiator and overflow tank at considerable expense because of overheating damage.

Okay, so let me clarify, if both fans are spinning the wrong way, then the problem can be easily corrected by swapping the wires in an easily accessible main aux fan connector, but if only one fan is spinning the wrong way, then the wiring running specifically to that fan must be corrected, which of course can't be accessed without taking half the front end of the car apart.

Man, I'm lucky I caught this not too long after the "repair" was done, so I can probably get the mechanic to make it right. Methinks removing the radiator, condensor, and related paraphernalia would really ruin a weekend (or my finances, or possibly both if I really screw something up).

Many, many thanks, guys. I dropped the car off at the offending shop today, and will get in touch with the owner tomorrow. Wish me luck.

As Dux posted , if BOTH fans are turning the wrong direction, the main feed can be swapped to the opposite polarity and both fans will turn the correctly ..the reason for this is the fact that the fans are wired in Parallel...so changing the single feed changes both fan signals.
...BUT, if one fan is wired out of phase with the other , then you have to go change the polarity on that single unit ..otherwise , changing the main feed will still result in each fan turning the opposite of the other... [ meaning they are not in Phase with one another...]

Phasing simply means each fan uses the same criteria for pos/neg polarity....somewhat like stereo speakers use. If one hooks their speakers OUT OF PHASE , the one cone will pull when the other pushes... there are actual applications for such out of phasing on speakers [ like when they face one another], but this does not work w/aux fans.....we want both fans wired the same polarity..and pushing air across the condenser, towards the radiator, not from the radiator.........lack of low fan for a/c not only allows high side pressure to go unchecked, but it also passively heats the engine coolant b/c it takes away the effeciency of the radiator to keep the coolant in check.
Many mis-diagnosed engine coolant overheat problems are simply a blown fuse on the low aux.fan circuit when a/c is being used. If the fans do not come on when a high termal load is present to a/c high side pressures, the engine coolant temps rise b/c of the extra burden on the radiator from the passive heat from the condenser.
So, guys start blaming everything from the radiator, thermostat , viscous, water pump, etc.....when the correct diagnosis is simply NO LOW Fan circuit.............see it all the time.
So one can see why I always ask for low fan activation verification when answering an overheat post. And why my first test is to have the poster jumper the high side pressure sw for low fan circuit test. This test tells me everthing aout the integrity of the low fan circuit , with the exclusion of the sw itself and the refrigerant charge. If NO fan with that simple test, we then know you have a low fan circuit problem and most likely solving that will also solve your overheat condition.... and usually for short $$$, too.