I have been doing some research today trying to figure some issues with the wife's car.  She has a 2004 Outback and the sub-fan is not operating.  From what I can tell, it would be a matter of three possibilities.  One, the easiest, a blown fuse.  Two, a bad relay.  Three, a bad fan.  I have been trying to find pictures, directions, etc. on which relay this could possibly be.  I don't have the car in front of me at the moment, but from what I understand, there are four relays in this enclosure, but no one is sure which relay could be the culprit.  Is there someone that could share a photo of which relay it could possibly be instead of checking each one?  I appreciate any help on this that I could get in steering me in the right direction.

 

I forgot to mention that this is the four cylinder wagon, non-turbo.

 

 When you say the fan isn’t working, do you
mean that the car is overheating? If you haven’t seen it operating, it could be
the system is OK, it just doesn’t need an auxiliary fan . Modern engines are designed
to operate within a narrow temp range,& usually the Aux fan is turned on
when AC is operating and a whole list of conditions are checked off by the
controller, you might find more info by doing a search for sub fans, air
conditioner,

 

Test fan operation by connecting the green plugs under the dash on drivers side. Turn the key to On and all of the relays and solenoids will start to cycle.

The main fan and sub fan are two speed fans and will cycle off, low, and high speeds in roughly two second intervals.

Ok.  The relay information that I had read online by someone was much more confusing than reality.  The main and sub fan relays are clearly marked. 

 

The fuses for both fans are intact and good.  Now I need to determine if the relays are the problem or if it is the fan motor. 

 

The problem she was having is that the driver's side (main??) fan is not engaging at hotter temps with the AC on.  The passenger fan does work and runs.  Driving down the road the car is fine, the problem comes in when she is idling for extended periods; i.e. traffic, drive thrus, etc.

Can someone explain (dummified for me) how to test the relays?  I mean step by step.  If it is the relay or even the motor for that matter, it is going to be difficult to get the parts as the only dealerships are on the opposite side of town now (Houston is pretty big) and supply houses don't carry these parts.

See above. While performing functionality test, if the fan does not work check to make sure all 4 relays are clicking.

The next step would be to check for voltage reaching the fan connector.

The relays are good. I disconnected the drivers side fan and connected it to a battery source and got nothing. I am thinking that the fan is bad. Does this sound right?

Provided the test included ground as well as power, it may be bad. The next step, if you don't want to drive to a dealership,  is what many here recommend is www.car-part.com   most ship. I (or traipse thru a pull and save yard).