Thread: Viscous Fan Removal Tool

Originally Posted by Rohaan

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90% sure it's counter-clockwise for a 2001 Discovery td5 but let me know if it's otherwise!

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yep. when looking from the front: to undo it, counter clockwise.

Sometimes tapping the spanner with a 'hammery type' tool can also shock the threads undone .. rather than simply pushing the spanner, and and just turning the VC unit.

The fan always unscrews in the same direction that rotates.

I made a hub holding spanner but until I had it, just giving the fan nut spanner a sharp hit with a hammer would loosen it.

I couldn't recall what exactly I did to remove this one to change the belts on my td5 03 before but surely I didn't use any special fan removal tool as I did not want to wait for that tool. Instead I had to buy one big wrench (cost me about $40 in SupercheapAuto last year) because that big wrench will stay against the mechanism and lock and help to turn the things out when combine with other normal tools I have. It was not an everyday job I love to do.

Thanks for the confirmation on counter clockwise.

I've blasted the 'specialty' 36mm spanner countless times with a hammer over a few hours today with no give.
Tried holding + jamming a flat head and various other long tubes/pegs against the 10mm nuts with no luck so I think it's on for making a tool tomorrow.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Rohaan

Thanks for the confirmation on counter clockwise.

I've blasted the 'specialty' 36mm spanner countless times with a hammer over a few hours today with no give.
Tried holding + jamming a flat head and various other long tubes/pegs against the 10mm nuts with no luck so I think it's on for making a tool tomorrow.

Cheers

Ah!

It happens sometimes.
I had the same issue with my V8 fan. wanted to remove to do some cooling system work to it .. no way it was going to come loose .. ever!
In the end I ripped the fan to pieces(grinder), then removed water pump and fan as a single unit .. to get water pump out!

And out of curiosity .. just to see if the viscous would actually come off .. nope!
No amount of banging with any size sledgy whilst held firmly in the vice, no amount of heating with blow torch would remove the viscous unit .. simply immovable.
Having screw locked the viscous unit, ground the rear a bit to fit a plumbers wrench etc, etc... the pump impeller blades just buckled under the strain of the vice vs the large hammer.

They do tighten over time, but in my V8 case .. I think some suspicious mechanic type simply applied some illogical lateral thinking of whatever type. It all went into the bin in the end.

My brother has the TD5 fan tool kit(spanner and holding tool). Handy to have to do the bearing, otherwise a little annoying to use for just the fan. His is easy to remove. But one issue with the commonly found C shaped holding tool is that all three bolts need to be undone to use it.
I'd have thought if the holes in the holding tool were large enough to fit over the bolt heads, and only one bolt was undone and refitted to hold the tool securely, it would have been enough.

I have a spanner for my Tdi and V8 and it was just a standard cheapie. Not hard to use, but not really enough length.
I only realised this after using the brothers TD5 spanner on his TD5. much nicer/easier to use compared to a standard fan spanner. Handle is long enough and has the right bends in it to allow easy handling in use.

2 other options.

1. stilson over the pully with the belt in place to protect it.
2. strap or chain wrench (with the belt in place) on the pully.

never had an issue with that setup up.

when I didnt have that set up,

A pencil butane torch on the flats of the nut part always got it loose enough for the fan spanner and the knocking meter to get it undone

I couldn't undo my fan with a skinny 36mm spanner - it was a ground towbar spanner, and even hitting it with a mallet it wouldn't loosen the fan off.

I ended up buying a proper big 36mm spanner, I had to remove one of the 3 nuts and then the fan came undone reasonably quickly with a few hits of the big spanner.

Today is a new day and im still stubbornly determined.
Ill try heating up the 36mm nut and make a tool to hold the 3 x bolts in place.

I like the belt holding idea although im not 100% sure i understood.