When I started my car in the morning and found that the AC was blowing warm air, my brain immediately drew out a list of possible malfunctions, one of them being a faulty fan. True enough, a peek into the engine bay quickly revealed that the fan was not spinning at all.
So I'll have to drive the car with no AC, what's the big deal? Thing is, small cars like the Ford Fiesta only has one fan in the engine bay that is shared between the engine coolant radiator and the AC system. To wit, a warm cabin was the least of my worries, because there was a danger that the engine may overheat because the fan was not cooling down the coolant inside the radiator.
Fortunately for me, from my place to the nearest Ford specialist shop consists mostly of highways where I can drive at a comfortable 80-100km/h with little to no slowdowns or stoppage. This helps tremendously because the radiator can be cooled by the passing air as the vehicle moves forward. So the Protip here being - if you find yourself having to drive a car without a working radiator fan, choose routes that has the least traffic stops and congestions.
Anyways, once at the shop the diagnosis was quick and the repair was fairly simple - replaced the fan resistor and the fan motor and I was good to go once again.
The old resistor. It still works but it is usually replaced together with the fan motor.
The black powder on the floor are the carbon dusts that fell out of the motor. The main cause for electric motor and alternator failures are usually due to worn out carbon brushes, which can actually be replaced.
This car is almost 7 years old so a lot of the wear and tear is expected. It's probably time to replace it, but it's hard to find a car that is worthy enough to replace this fiesty little thing....at least not within the price range I can afford. But that's another topic for another day.