Hey i have a problem that i know someone here knows the answer to. I inherited my xterra about 6 months ago from my mom when she moved out of state. Its a great car and i would never get rid of it. Its about 7 years old and is bright canary yellow which somehow is invisible at night on the freeways. But that is not the point today.

Yesterday when i pulled into my drive way, i heard a strange noise in the engine compartment. I have had no issue with this car and i know it hasnt had any since it was purchased. I noticed that it was overheating. Well that goes my car and have to use another for work. But today i come home and i try to test it out a little to see if the problem re-creates itself. No luck there. The car was driven for about half an hour today and sat idling for about half as well. The car never over heated. Now im confused. My first thought was the Thermostat gone bad. and i figure a couple of you will think that as well. but then i turned the car off, and spun the fan by hand. It seemed to rotate too freely for the car to be at normal operating temperatures. Does anyone think that the fan clutch has gone bad? I know that when the car gets hotter, the clutch tightens so the fan gets Maximum rotation to cool. Can anyone help me decipher this??

Thanks in advance for anyone who happens to help