Thread: How does/can a fan fall off?

You haven't noticed anything unusual lately ............ like 5 gears in reverse and only 1 forward

Nah ... just being silly ..

NFI

If your fan wasn't tight on the thread a sudden stalling or backward kick of the engine could unscrew the fan. When I refit viscous fans I usually give the fan clutch spanner a few taps in the tightening direction to make sure.

As above. I have experienced the very same phenomenon. Some years back I refitted one, without the customary hammer tap, and it did exactly that when I switched the engine off, it kept rotating and must've just dropped off the end of the thread. After the next start up, it Ground away the edge of a blade on the fan belt.

JC

Thanks for those comments - I wondered if it might be something like that, as nothing else seemed to make sense.

I could only just run it back on, but it's been for a long run with several stops and starts and hasn't come off or loose... But still will want to tighten it - Is there any way to do this without those specific tools?

With the Tdi, it uses the same nut size as a Ford falcon 6 cylinder (XE or XF) engine. The tool can be bought at Repco or similar.

It is 32mm, if you have an old 32mm open end spanner, you can grind it thinner to fit between the fan clutch and the bolt heads and it will do the job.


Don't hit it too hard though!


JC

Just on the fan spanner guys.

I have tried to buy a Ford type spanner from Repco et al. for ages. No luck, out of stock. Interestingly they offer a tow ball spanner at 32mm but little else.

I think I have discovered an alternative.

We all remember tightening the cones on the wheels of our pushbikes that required very thin open enders.

The same company that supplies bike shops with high quality tools for this purpose also have in their range a 32mm version.

I have considered a group buy type of thing in the past. I reckon you could get these spanners for under 40 bucks and they would last you forever.

Originally Posted by discomuzz

Just on the fan spanner guys.

I have tried to buy a Ford type spanner from Repco et al. for ages. No luck, out of stock. Interestingly they offer a tow ball spanner at 32mm but little else.

I think I have discovered an alternative.

We all remember tightening the cones on the wheels of our pushbikes that required very thin open enders.

The same company that supplies bike shops with high quality tools for this purpose also have in their range a 32mm version.

I have considered a group buy type of thing in the past. I reckon you could get these spanners for under 40 bucks and they would last you forever.

Sounds like a good source Murray, but it'd want to be pretty tough/heavy duty. I've had to do a fair bit of belting in the past to get some of these off Maybe get it removed once using a heavy duty tool, and refitted 'sensibly', then you would be able to get it on and off again using the smaller / lighter spanner yourself in the future.

JC

No doubt, there would be limitations as far as heavy usage goes.

But, as I said, these are for professional bike builders. From what I understand the tools are well manufactured and, for a reliable one off tool in the shed, would be worth having a look at.