Thread: Viscous Fan Explosion

Hello Everyone,
Just had a rather "major" issue heading up to Yarrawonga. I replaced my Viscous Coupling and Fan last night as I'd diagnosed a fair bit of play in the Coupling, and had been experiencing some Overheating whilst I'm stopped in traffic etc.

Anyhow I removed the Coupling via the Recommended Tap Method (Anti-Clockwise as your facing the Engine Bay) and removed without much of an issue.

Made Carful note of how the original Fan/Viscous Coupling was constructed to ensure I had the New Combination installed the correct way.

Installed the New Fan/Coupling by slowly threading the Nut onto the Bolt by hand until tight, followed by a Gentle Nip-Up less than 1/16th of a turn with the 36mm Viscous Spanner.

Now for the Punchline, got to about 50-60km from Yarrawonga today (Already driven about 250km....) came up to an intersection and proceeded to Take off and heard an almighty bang.

Initially I thought I'd run over something and got a puncture but a quick inspection noted no issues, opened the bonnet to discover by Radiator Shroud in many, many pieces, as well as the Fan Blade completely wrecked and the Coupling actually leaning against the Radiator off the Nut coming from the Engine (i.e: Fallen Off).

So I got going again by collecting all of the Plastic pieces, disconnecting the Air Con Compressor from Power and driving without a Fan (No Overheating Issues as the Whole Trip was around 100kmh and only 24 Degrees Ambient.

My initial impression was that I must have installed the coupling backwards, but subsequently I've got home and had a look at the old Coupling/Fan and I've assembled the New one in exactly the same fashion as the old.

So... I've taken the Old Fan Blade and attached to the New Viscous Coupling and re-attached to the Engine, and all seems well based on my 5 minutes or so of Revving up to 5000rpm and back again (so to speak)

So I guess I'm looking for clarification on what could have gone wrong... and am I asking for trouble with some sort of Dodgy Coupling which is likely to destroy my other fan tomorrow?

N.B: I didn't really like the "look" of the New Fan in comparison to the old... didn't look that well but together, but it was complete with no cracks or damage etc...

Both Coupling and Fan were purchased from LRDirect.com in the UK.

Thanks Ron:
As I said in my original post I can understand the fan failing because it wasn't a Genuine Land Rover fan per se.. It was the better (more expensive) of the 2 OEM Options at LRDirect.com. I wasn't 110% happy with the style of construction when I saw it but what can you do...

I guess my major cause of confusion at this stage is why has the Coupling fallen off... surely if the Fan has died it should have just stayed on...