broken viscous fan and now RADIATOR! really???

[TeKnodriver]

broken viscous fan and now RADIATOR!

i did think it was odd that the viscous fan was always spinning,

last night though there was some cluncking and rattling up-front so pulled over to look...
the viscous fan had shattered or come off its mounting and shattered on the other pulleys-
mangling the radiator fins and leaving water pi55ing out of the rad!!!

So...

is it possible to bodge the leaking radiator with some gum/paste/epoxy/product until i can sort a replacement?

why is there a viscous fan anyway - other cars i've had just had the electric one?

could i run the car without this extrs fan?

Haynes says the viscous coupling should spin freely til 75 degrees, then lock-up to spin the fan - mine was ALWAYS spinning - a drain on power really as there was no need for it to be spinning - we don't live in a desert full of trafficjams?
seriously, why's it even there?​

 

[audiv8quattro]

Hi mate wouldn't advise running car without fan I had exactly the same problem and ran my car without the fan for a couple of weeks and it caused the bearings in the pulley to go because when it was spinning it wasn't evenly balanced and was wobbling slightly when spinning, I managed to pick up a fan blade without coupling on partsgateway for 20 quid as for rad if it was leaking that bad no amount of rad weld of any other product would stop the leak I wouldn't think, try partsgateway for a rad aswell, good luck. the fans are easy enough to fit all u need is a 32mm wrench and a thin metal bar to hold fan in place.

 

[TeKnodriver]

Thing is - I don't want that fan there...
other cars manage with an electrical switched fan, I want the viscous coupling and the fan gone and replaced with a idler pulley

viscous coupling squeals , is expensive to replace, saps power from the engine and AFAIK not necessary for engine cooling

think i got the holes with rapid epoxy, now to test...
P)

 

[aragorn]

"other" cars have transverse engines.

Every single longitudinally mounted engine i've ever seen has a engine driven viscous coupled fan where possible.

You can however remove it, and replace it with an electric one. Either leave the standard fan bearing in place, or is thats whats failed just remove it completely and use a shorter aux belt (1000mm rings a bell)

 

[dest]

There is a long thread on AudiSRS about the pros/cons of removing it

 

[Broken Byzan]

If your car hs aircon, it will have a temperature controlled electirc fan also, unless we start getting 35 degree temps it will be fine assuming all of the cooloing system is ok.

I launched mine down the garage and replaced it with an electric fan. Works a treat and doesn't sound like a jet engine when the car is revved now,lol

 

[audiv8quattro]

True byzan a4 mine does sound a bit like an airshow when I drive it hard, if you don't mind me asking what price roughly did you pay to get the electric fan fitted and did they remove the viscous fan and put a shorter belt on or did they keep the pulley on and just remove the fan itself, I've gone through 3 fans in the last 6 months I checked every where to see where mine was catching and it turned out the front engine cover was loose exspensive mistake.

 

[Broken Byzan]

i removed the whole thing and fitted a 200mm shorter belt. the fan was circa £20 iirc

 

[audiv8quattro]

Nice one mate pretty easy to do aswell what motor you got mines the 2.6 v6 quattro is yours similar

 

[Arrkon]

Every single longitudinally mounted engine i've ever seen has a engine driven viscous coupled fan where possible.

Have to somewhat agree, especially with the germans (Merc BMW and VAG) however my old Omega (99) (3.0V6) and my Dads Senator (95)(3.0 Inline6) were elec fans...

Sorry. :sign_ot:

 

[ScottD3]

A lot of the BMW boys would remove the viscous fan and just keep the AC fan.
They never had any issues.
Some would put in wetter water as well.

I've always been a bit dubious about removing it though, more so for the larger petrol engines.
Might be ok for diesels though.

 

[audiv8quattro]

I wouldn't like to run my motor with no fan for a long time especially coz my air con fan doesn't ever seem to work perhaps that's why my aircon doesn't work lol but that's another story. Definatly going to do the electric fan conversion though but don't really want a switch in the car how would I go about wiring it up to the temp sensor or I've heard about the probed ones that you put the probes into the fins of the rad, not thread hijacking just interested sorry

 

[aragorn]

If your car has AC it will already have a temp sensor in the rad bottom hose, just tap into that.

 

[audiv8quattro]

Nice one I'll do that then now just gotta get myself a cheap fan any ideas

 

[aragorn]

Scrappy hunt!

 

[audiv8quattro]

Yeah fun what fans would fit or doesn't it really matter

 

[aragorn]

Just measure the hole and find something suitable.

Bear in mind that fans can either be "push" or "pull" and as such need to be mounted in the same place/orientation as their original application.