my viscous fan fell off

[swarcup]

As the title says today the viscous fan fell off. i stalled the car and straight away there was a strange wirring noise that sped up and down with the engine reving. when i popped the bonnet i could see that the fan has unwound itselfe off the spindle that comes from the engine. Does anyone know what size the spanners required are.or is it a symptom that the coupling is knackered. You can turn the coupling by hand so its not seized. The last time it was removed was 10 months ago when the belts where done. Its a 2.5v6 tdi (ake). many thanks for any advice

 

[adamss24]

32mm spanner, don't do them up too tight as they are supposed to self tighten themselves...Lucky it did not take the rad with it as well...

 

[swarcup]

cheers chris. looks like you need thin ones. do you need one or two. looks like 2

 

[adamss24]

I use a special Laser tool for the viscous fan(available from halfords) and a Halfords 32mm long reach spaner but you can use 2 adjustable wrenches as well. Mole grips also are ok to use as you dont need to put a lot of torque with such long spaners. I would check the viscous coupling though and make shure there's not major play in it- had a friend wich had a radiator taken off when the bearing failed. The viscous fan is £45 + VAT from ECP and i would fit a new one if i were you just for piece of mind then forget about it !

 

[vrbob]

If you do change the viscous fan coupling make sure you screw the fan back onto the coupling the right way round as when Chris did mine on my car i was being helpful and did it while he was still working on the car and then we werent 100% sure if i had put it back on right so had to do some comparrisons with Chris`s car to make sure, Luckily i had done it right

 

[swarcup]

thanks for the info, will fit a new one and job done