clutch fan nearly siezed

[kniever]

hey all,

my clutch fan in my 5ltr is nearly siezed cos it is getting hard to spin with ya fingers and on a hot day the car starts to go above normal in temperature and its only when i start driving again at 60+ speeds it starts to go back down.

anyway, my question is im gonna get a thermo fan from the wreckers and im wondering what fan would be the best and what excatly i would need to get it going. ie, switch, temperature controller, relay.

thanks, any info will be appreciated

[VRV666]

I am shocked that a vq stato doesnt have a thermo fan already.
The reason your car will be cooling down after you hit a bit of momentum is because you have got some airflow going straight onto your radiator.

If you ask the wreckers and tell them what you have they should be able to help out pretty well. Or you could grab a davis craig style fan and run it off an in cab switch. Easy done but also easy to leave on and flatten your battery.

[kniever]

i dont thin any of the 5ltr models had thermos did they? right thru to vt? but im not sure i could be wrong cos im pretty sure my mates vs 2 clubsport even runs a clutch fan and only the sixes have thermo's.

[AirStrike]

i dont thin any of the 5ltr models had thermos did they? right thru to vt? but im not sure i could be wrong cos im pretty sure my mates vs 2 clubsport even runs a clutch fan and only the sixes have thermo's.

Mine does mounted on the front. It only runs when either the A/C is on or the car gets over a certain temp.

[kniever]

if u are talking bout the small 1 behind the bumper i got 1 too but u would have a clutch fan aswell yeh? i wanna get rid of the clutch fan totally and replace it with a thermo fan of the same size in the same spot

[AirStrike]

if u are talking bout the small 1 behind the bumper i got 1 too but u would have a clutch fan aswell yeh? i wanna get rid of the clutch fan totally and replace it with a thermo fan of the same size in the same spot

Correct. Both that thermo and my clutch fan are going soon any way.

[nathans1987]

if its nearly seized then it should cool the car better! and they do seize up when the car gets hot! (that is the idea of the clutch, as the air its pushing gets hotter it tightens up and pushed more air thus cooling better) your problem is somewhere else check thermostat. do a coolant flush etc.

i don't have a small thermo fan the front of my radiator. should i? its a vn ss s1 1990. its got aircond. my clutch broke (meaning it DIDN'T seize up when it got hot :P) so i put a thermo fan on it.

[AirStrike]

if its nearly ceased then it should cool the car better! and they do cease up when the car gets hot! that is the idea of the clutch your problem is somewhere else check thermostat. do a coolant flush etc.

Ummm how would it cool the car better with the fan seized?

[nathans1987]

because its a clutch fan. its driven off a belt with a clutch as not to drain as much power. As the car gets hotter the clutch locks up and spins the fan faster, making it push more air, making it cool better.

what that guy did was go out to his car after it was running on a hot day and spin the fan and found it was hard. which is normal because the clutch would have been hot and the hotter they get the more more they spin when the motor is turning(which makes it harder for him to turn when the car is off)

[hakhawk]

sounds like the clutch in it is seizing when its not engaged, so at lower speeds, its not turning when the cars hot, which is a BAD thing.

either pick up a second thermo fan from autobarn, repco, etc and strap on and wire up(unsure of best way myself) or maybe look at the ef/au thermo fan mod that people do

[AirStrike]

because its a clutch fan. its driven off a belt with a clutch as not to drain as much power. As the car gets hotter the clutch locks up and spins the fan faster, making it push more air, making it cool better.

Look in a dictionary for the definition of seized.

[nathans1987]

Look in a dictionary for the definition of seized.

he said its getting "hard to spin" which is how i was refering to it its not his fan if the case is its getting hard to spin because they are only had it when they are easy to spin.

[kniever]

lol nathan, the point of a clutch fan is they are suposed to spin easy so that when u are idling at a set of lights on a hot day the fan can spin faster than the engine, thus keeping the engine cooler, now if it doesnt spin faster than the engine while at idle the engine will naturely get hot and start to overheat.

now also its not when the engine is hot that its hard to spin, it is the same problem as when the engine is cold so this means my fan is seizing cos its the same whether hot or cold

[Bent_6]

I always thought the idea of the clutch fan was to help reduce drag and release a few extra ponies.
When you plant ya foot the crank can spool up without the drag of the fan to restrict it.
I had an EA once and when the clutch siezed it used heaps more fuel and you could hear it roaring through each gear as the rev's rose.
Like was mentioned, get a EF/L AU twin set up and you will be laughing.
They work independantly so one comes on when temp is reached and then both for when the A/C is on.

[nathans1987]

lol nathan, the point of a clutch fan is they are suposed to spin easy so that when u are idling at a set of lights on a hot day the fan can spin faster than the engine, thus keeping the engine cooler, now if it doesnt spin faster than the engine while at idle the engine will naturely get hot and start to overheat.

now also its not when the engine is hot that its hard to spin, it is the same problem as when the engine is cold so this means my fan is seizing cos its the same whether hot or cold

no they alwase spin LESS(they might spin more but its not the clutch which causes it too) than the motor when they get how they start to spin almost as much because the clutch starts to firm up. please explain how the clutch will make it spin faster its impossible without gears and other stuff. the point of the clutch is so that when the car dosn't need the fan going as fast taking power it dosn't. it may be that the clutch isn't working as it should but if its hard to slpin then its likley not the problem. its hard to tell tho because mine clutch was medium to spin and i was over heating and i compared it to my friends and his was a lot harder to spin. but both fans were about the same with cold and normal running temp, so they must not really lock up till they get really hot.

bent6 your thinking of a flexy fan i think,

[kniever]

so when u idle on a hot day and the fan is spinning at idle speed(which isnt that fast at all) how is the engine supose to stay cool?

doesnt matter anyway cos im gonna get a thermo fan

[Bent_6]

so when u idle on a hot day and the fan is spinning at idle speed(which isnt that fast at all) how is the engine supose to stay cool?

doesnt matter anyway cos im gonna get a thermo fan

Well if your car idles at 7-800 rpm then the fan is spinning at the same speed, thats plenty of air being sucked through the radiator.
Most cars dont need that extra cooling from the fan unless you are stationary for a while anyway.
My V6 VN thermo doesn't cut in until it gets to about half way, which takes ages to get too.
It doesn't have any air being sucked through at idle and still takes ages, at least you have some airflow with a mechanical fan.
What may be the case is if the clutch fan is seized, the engine, whilst under load is working harder to compensate for the extra drag of the fan spinning at engine rpm, so when you come to a stop the water pump slows also reducing the cooling efficiency and so heat begins to rise in the engine.
Once you accelerate again, although the fan is still making the engine work harder, it pumps more water through the cooling chambers reducing the temp.
Think about it, even in top gear doing 80k's your car will run at about 1500rpm which means the water pump is also turning at 1500rpm. when you stop the pump runs at idle speed thus halving the coolig effect.