Sorry about the below post with no text. Don’t know what happened.

AC on 96 850 T wagon seemed to not be working a couple weeks ago when I started up in the city in 90+ heat, but then worked fine on the 30 mile drive home in the country and thought it had just been coping with the intense heat in the city. Then on next trip to Spokane with 90+ temps it overheated and boiled over a bit while I was parked with engine running and AC on in an industrial park. Drove to nearest business (tire shop) and let it cool down and added nearly a gallon of water. During all this time the temp gauge never moved above the 3:00 position. Is the temp-gauge failure a related issue or just a coincidence?

I determined that the fan was not working, which was confirmed by the still excellent cooling when I used the ac at times while driving 60 mph on the way home. It has not lost water/coolant since on a couple of 30 mile to a local town w/ ac on.

Checked it again hot with AC on was on and still no fan, but I noted the AC clutch would kick in for two seconds and then be off for 6 seconds, kick on again for two seconds, then kick off, etc., etc., repeating this cycle endlessly. Yet at speed, the ac works well, What’s going on? I can’t remember it cycling like this at idle.

So with all these symptoms coming together suddenly, I’m wondering if they indicate that there is a magic bullet I might try without trouble-shooting all the wiring and resistance, etc. A relay? ETS? Why would the temp gauge work well, but only up to mid-range? Do I start with the Electronic Temperature Sensor under the thermostat ? Where do I go from there if this does not solve the problem?