How Do You Know if the Fan Clutch Is Bad

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Your vehicle's fan clutch is an oft overlooked simply important little part—it'southward responsible for gauging the temperature of the air passing through the radiator and keeping the engine from overheating. A slipping fan clutch tin result in failed cooling, increased engine strain, and poor fuel efficiency, which is why it'southward important to evaluate the status your vehicle's fan clutch if you doubtable it might be wearing out. You tin do this by making a note of unusual noise or temperatures while driving, inspecting the housing for oil leakage or physical damage, measuring the amount of resistance offered past the fan blades.

1. ane

   Pay attention to changes in air temperature. One of the most mutual symptoms of a fan clutch on the outs is an inability to properly cool the air circulating through the vehicle. Switch on the A/C and turn it downward to the coldest setting. If it fails to cool downwardly after several minutes, or seems to be emitting unusually warm air, there could exist a problem.^[ane]

   • Hold your hand a few inches away from the vent and so slight variations in temperature will be more than noticeable.
   • Information technology may exist a good thought to check the temperature of a few unlike vents. If the air flow feels suspiciously hot or weak, it could just be a bad vent.

2. 2

   Listen for excessive noise when driving at loftier speeds. When a fan clutch binds, or locks upwards, the air passing through it can produce a gentle roar that's audible from inside the cabin of the vehicle. The next time y'all're driving about l mph (80 km/h) or higher, take notation of how the fan sounds. Activeness that's louder than normal may indicate bounden.^[2]

   • A bounden fan clutch volition typically exist accompanied with warm air flow from the A/C, since the fan isn't turning the way it should be.

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3. three

   Showtime your vehicle and listen for the fan to engage. Requite the engine a little fourth dimension to warm up. Later 4-5 minutes, the fan clutch should come up to life. Assuming it doesn't, or that it's sluggish when information technology finally gets moving, it may be on its concluding legs. The aforementioned is true if the fan speed accelerates every bit shortly as you kickoff the vehicle.^[iii]

   • Some fan clutches are designed with a built-in thermometer somewhere on the musical instrument panel. If your unit has 1, keep an middle on the temperature so you lot'll know about when the fan speed should begin ramping up.^[4]
   • If the fan withal hasn't kicked in by the time temperature reaches nigh 200 °F (93 °C), you tin can be sure that in that location'south a trouble somewhere.
   • You should be able to hear information technology from where yous're sitting inside the cabin of the vehicle. If the noise from the engine is too loud, try popping the hood to forestall the sound from being muffled.

4. four

   Encounter if the fan slows or stops when you lot increment your speed. Press downwardly on the accelerator gradually to bring the vehicle up to highway speed while you monitor the movement of the fan clutch. Once the engine reaches about 2,500 RPMs, you lot should observe its speed dropping off. A fan that keeps running at the same rate should be considered lacking, equally this could event in too much cooling.^[5]

   • You can too perform this test while the vehicle is parked and in neutral gear.
   • Near fan clutches on newer vehicles are designed with a metallic spring coil that reacts to changes in temperature and engages or disengages the fan appropriately. This means that the fan should ability downwardly at college speeds because the rushing air is sufficient for cooling the engine.^[6]

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1. 1

   Pop the hood. Before you go looking for your fan clutch, make sure your vehicle is in park, with the engine off and the handbrake firmly engaged. If necessary, use the hood strut to concord the hood up so you can work unobstructed.

   • Never effort to inspect or handle any of the mechanical components in the engine compartment while the engine is running.

2. 2

   Locate your vehicle'south fan clutch. You'll find the fan clutch bolted to the water pump at the front end of the engine compartment, between the radiator and the engine. The entire unit is only about 1 foot (30 cm) tall past 1 foot (30 cm) broad, nigh of which is the circular fan component. The outer housing may make your vehicle'southward fan clutch slightly larger, and tin can be either round or rectangular.^[7]

   • When the engine starts to get too hot, the fan clutch takes the air flowing through the radiator, cools it downwards, and feeds it into the engine to cool information technology.
   • Standard thermostatic fan clutches will only be nowadays on cars and trucks with rear-wheel drive. Forepart-wheel drive vehicles are equipped with a completely dissimilar cooling system due to the way the engine is configured.

3. three

   Examine the unit's general status. Yous'll be able to tell right away if something is out of identify or there'southward any major structural damage. On a functional fan clutch, the fan blades will all be lined up neatly inside the housing, which should sit upright with an equal corporeality of space between the radiator and engine.^[8]

   • Check to make sure each of the bolts holding the fan clutch in identify is secure and intact.
   • Go along an eye out for whatever visible components that are aptitude, crooked, or missing.

4. 4

   Feel for excess motion in the fan and housing. Jerk each of the fan blades individually to see if they experience damaged or displaced. Exercise the same for the metal housing that surrounds the fan itself. Loose, rattling pieces send a loud and clear message that you need to have your fan clutch replaced.^[ix]

   • In virtually cases, fan blades are designed to flex up to ^one⁄₂ inch (ane.three cm). Whatsoever more than than that could compromise the efficiency of the unit.^[ten]
   • Give the water pump hose a quick jostle as well to run across if the problem might lie there.

5. 5

   Spot-check for oil leaks. Run your finger along the edges of the bearing seal on the behind of the fan clutch. If it comes away with a heavy coating of oil, the culprit is either a crack or a faulty seal. Radial streaks are another potential clue—this happens when oil escapes from the clutch and is then blown outward in all directions past the fan.^[11]

   • Within the fan clutch, there is a small reservoir filled with a viscous silicone-based oil. The oil flows to and from the main bedroom as engine heat fluctuates, engaging and disengaging the clutch.
   • Traces of oil are perfectly normal, and won't necessarily be an indication that your clutch is shot.

6. 6

   Turn the fan by mitt. Grab the edge of one of the blades and give it a practiced button. While there should exist a little fleck of requite, it shouldn't spin more than than three complete rotations. Too much free-wheeling is usually a sign that the clutch is decumbent to slipping. On the other mitt, as well much resistance means the clutch is bounden and tin't turn freely. In either case, information technology will need to be replaced.^[12]

   • Ideally, the fan shouldn't spin more than 1-1½ times.^[13]
   • For your own safety, yous should never try to manually test your fan clutch while the vehicle is running.

7. 7

   Have your fan clutch replaced by a professional person. Once you think yous've uncovered the source of the problem, take your vehicle to a trusted garage for repairs. A qualified mechanic will exist able to confirm your findings and accept the necessary steps to get the clutch working correctly over again. They might even be able to plow upwards other potential complications that yous didn't grab.^[xiv]

   • Information technology will cost somewhere between $150-300 to have a new fan clutch installed, on boilerplate.^[15]
   • Brand certain your new fan clutch is the same type as the original. Information technology'south possible to upgrade from a non-thermal clutch to a more efficient thermal model, just not the other way effectually.

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• Keep your engine temperature below 210 °F (99 °C) while you're running your tests to forestall information technology from overheating.

• If you desire to make up one's mind the extent of the problem, you tin use a probe thermometer to read the exact temperature of the air flowing through the radiator.

• One smart strategy is to have your vehicle's fan clutch and water pump replaced together. Both parts tend to clothing out at nearly the same fourth dimension, so if one is giving y'all trouble, the other may not be far backside.

• If y'all're not confident in your ability to finer diagnose or correct an issue with your vehicle's fan clutch, have it to have it looked at by a professional rather than trying to fix information technology yourself. After all, that'southward what they're there for.

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• A bum fan clutch drains horsepower from the engine to keep the mechanical fans running, which tin can ultimately lead to critical overheating, decreased fuel economy, and poor general operation.

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Article Summary X

It'due south important to maintain the fan clutch in your vehicle, as it'south responsible for testing the temperature of the air coming through the radiator and preventing the engine from overheating. First, see if you can detect any problems with the fan clutch while you're driving. Mind out for a gentle roar from the fan clutch when you're driving at least 50 miles per hour, as this can point that information technology's bounden or locking upwards. Next, locate the fan clutch bolted to the water pump in the engine compartment. The fan clutch unit is approximately 1 foot tall by 1 pes wide. Then exam the fan clutch by giving it a adept push button. If information technology spins more than three full rotations, this indicates that it may be prone to slipping. If the fan clutch requires repair, have the vehicle to a qualified mechanic. For more data about how to examination a fan clutch, such as other signs to look for which indicate harm, read on.

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Test-a-Fan-Clutch

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