I have a 2001 ZX3 with the 2 litre zetec engine.  It has 34,000 miles on
it.  Today on the way home from school, i got stuck in bumper to bumber
traffic.  As i was sitting stopped for like hours at a time, i would
notice that the temperature gauge would slowly rise, and i would have to
shut the car off and let it cool.  After playing around with it, i
realized that the cooling fan was never coming on to cool the car at idle.
If the AC is on, then the fan runs and the car cools down.  however, if
the car is idling, and starts to overheat, if i revv the engine a couple
times (to about 2k rpms, then 3k) the headlights would flicker quickly and
then what do you know, the fan clicks on, cools the car, then shuts off.
So the fan works when the motor is not idling, and when the AC is on.  I
really need to fix this cause my dads gonna get mad if he thinks something
is broken.  Any help is appreciated

thanks
brian