At the Ohio meet this weekend, a fellow FB fan (pun!) traded me a mechanical fan he had for the one I had which had a siezed clutch. Unfortunately, the 'new' fan had a totally non-functional clutch and the car is running really hot. Not overheating, but in traffic it goes between the normal line and the overheat line unless the heater is on. Once I kick the heater on it holds ok at between halfway and the normal op line.

I'm going back tomorrow, how should we decide if a fan clutch is operating properly? I'll have at least 5 fans to choose from. The last time we chose a fan that spun more freely than my existing fan at ambient temperature (~75 fahrenheit).

Gas is cheap enough again that I suppose we could just change it hot and drive around and check it, but that seems rather time consuming.

 

Wow, I don't think you should be driving it anywhere with that kind of heat!

My fan always spins when the motor is on, that's that. I dunnon how to check it other than to see if it spins.

 

Yeap thats what I'm seeing. If the engine is warmed up and a quick flick of the fan makes it spin much more than 1 1/2 or 2 turns the clutch is shot.

Im thinking I should just put the old one back in and live with it till I start the new job then drop an Efan in.

 

Stick your hand up to it while its turning...if it stops...clutch is shot...if it cuts your hand and keep turning..its all good

 

So. . . . it's NOT supposed to just spin all the time?

 

Redneck diagnostics

 

Warm up the car to normal operating temp. Take a rag, make an end with it, and apply it to the fan. If you are able to stop the fan, your clutch is ****, I mean shot.

 

does it spin backwards?

 

The easier it spins the more worn out it is. Get one that is kind of tight. 2 to 3 revolutions on a real good hand spin.

 

i have a spare one form my old 13b SE that is a known working clutch. you could compare to that. hell, would it work on the 12a?

and you still need to take that damn FC alt. off my hands! i have no more room for parts!

 

Ok I got a working one. Thanks for the tips.

I found a safer place to do the hand-stop trick. Take a gloved finger and press it against the inside of the plastic 'drum' that forms the hub of the fan. You wont get a finger chopped off but you can still stop the fan.

The car runs a bit warmer than she was running with a totally siezed fan clutch, but thats expected.

 

Well,

The way I read somewhere that there is a fluid in-between the clutch and pulley or shaft or something and when the fluid heats up it allows the fan to cool and when its cool (via highway air, etc) then its just free spinning.

- Tech

 

The information on this thread is downright scary... I know the hand in the fan was a joke, but some dumbfuck is gonna try it soon.

This one sounds serious... but its a ******* dumb idea. Hope nobody takes this advice and gets their finger chopped off. They may deserve it for being stupid, but I don't want my taxpayer money going to their medical bills and disability checks.

When the engine is cold and shut off, you should be able to spin the fan (without spinning the water pump). There should be a good amount of drag on the fan. The fan should always spin with the engine running. It will spin about 1000rpm when the engine is at 3000 RPM when the clutch is engaged.

If you can hear the fan always spinning up with the engine's revolutions, then the clutch is disengaged... and should be replaced. Sometimes when the car is parked for a bit, you'll hear it spinning up, but it should go away as underhood temp drops.

 

JRS10, stop it ya might scare them off

have you not heard of the Darwin awards? we are fishing for new candidates

kenn

 

The rag trick is pretty safe.

 

just wondering, why do they use a fan clutch? why not have it spin with revolutions of the engine?

 

A fan only needs to draw air through the radiator when there is insufficient air passing through to cool the water inside.

If the fan runs at full speed all the time, the engine may have difficulty reaching proper operating temperature.

Another reason is parasitic drag... a fan pulling air through the radiator uses a LOT of energy... which reduces gas mileage, increased wear on the motor, and most importantly... less energy to be transferred to the wheels.

 

Tack weld your fan clutch sometime. For the past year I've had my car my friends have thought that a rotary sounds like a hairdryer on 'roids because of a siezed fan clutch.