cooling fan rationality

Need help quick guys. A week or so ago my mom's 97 or 98 Impreza NA wagon threw a check engine light in another state. I scanned it at Autozone and got "cooling fan rationality something or other". I watched the temp gauge and it didn't overheat. I checked online and found it was probably the coolant temp sensor.

The car drove fine, didn't overheat, and wasn't causing any immediate problems, so I drove it home and haven't fixed it yet because I've been working like a madman. Since then 400+ miles have been put on it (ride home from out of state) without any obvious issues. I was gonna fix it tomorrow. Today out of nowhere the car is now misfiring (CEL blinking).

I turned on the AC popped the hood, neither fan is on. Overflow bottle is full of coolant. I'm guessing since neither fan turns on with the AC on, it's not the temp sensor. Any ideas/advice? I don't want to drive it anywhere with it misfiring like this, and need to fix it asap.



Thanks in advance



EDIT: OK, I just pulled the 2 fuses for the coolant fans to inspect them, they looked good. I put them back in, and turn the key to accessories and try the AC again. Both fans now come on. I turn the car on, with AC still at full blast, both fans stay on, and no more misfire. WTF?
Anybody have any ideas?

For a minute there I thought your cooling fan might have developed intelligence.

What ever it is, its certianly not behaving rationaly.


It sounds like something tripped out, and pulling the fuses reset it.