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Fan clutch locked up


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Don't forget to recheck your pulley bolts when done. Mine came loose and I never thought to check them as I never had the physical pulley off, it tossed the belt after about 20 miles, this was a few years back.

 

My wrenches are a little different for my 96, tje back one goes over the heads of the bolts of the pulley. Might not be an issue if your wrenches don't rest on the heads of the pulley bolts.

 

I posted some pics of what I did wrong a few years back.

 

 

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Look at the old fan clutch and you can see the shaft seal leaked out the oil once the oil was gone the shaft seized up on the fan clutch. I've seen both locked up and free spin for failures. I've done it in the past where free spin ill drill two holes and bolt it solid (locked). This way you could drive it till you could get a new fan clutch. 

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14 hours ago, dripley said:

at shut down it spun for about 5 seconds

Hmm... Maybe my truck is in need a fan clutch, too!  I thought maybe for these trucks the fans were supposed to be hard to move by hand.  It sure doesn't free spin, even at shutoff from 800 RPM.

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11 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Look at the old fan clutch and you can see the shaft seal leaked out the oil once the oil was gone the shaft seized up on the fan clutch. I've seen both locked up and free spin for failures. I've done it in the past where free spin ill drill two holes and bolt it solid (locked). This way you could drive it till you could get a new fan clutch. 

You see powdered rust where nut meets the housing. It definitely got dry.

9 minutes ago, LorenS said:

Hmm... Maybe my truck is in need a fan clutch, too!  I thought maybe for these trucks the fans were supposed to be hard to move by hand.  It sure doesn't free spin, even at shutoff from 800 RPM.

My oe used free spin a little after shut down. But I had not given it any concern for quite a while since it seemed be working fine. You could still move it with the engine off and would get easier the move the more you rotated, but it did not free spin with your hand much. Even this new one I dont think I could stop it like @Mopar1973Mandid in his video. I was going to try but could not find anything suitable to stick in there. Plus sticking something in a rotating fan goes against my better judgement.

This morning it took about 9 or 10 miles for to unlock. The old one would lock some mornings but would release after the fluid moved around in a minute or so of driving. We will see how it does over the next while.

 

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At $76 from RAuto, I won't be replacing mine until something actually goes wrong.  Or, perhaps when I place an order damn near the entire A/C system.  I've got a leak somewhere, and also the condenser has a large amount of its bottom rows blocked off due to PO's interaction with a deer.  For all I know the oil is all piled up there, upstream of the smashed circuits.  Now that I'll be driving the kids around more (wife starts a new job in July), I want the A/C to work.  Unlike my dad's old vehicles from when I was that age, these new vehicles aren't designed to be cooled with windows open.  And, highway speeds are much faster and thus louder.

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Mine lasted 531k. I got my moneys worth.

 

I did my AC about 3 years back. Replaced everting under the hood for about $250. The wife's Saturn had the compress blow not after. The parts for it were almost double that. I cant what either would have cost if I had taken them some where. 

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8 hours ago, dripley said:

.

This morning it took about 9 or 10 miles for to unlock. The old one would lock some mornings but would release after the fluid moved around in a minute or so of driving. We will see how it does over the next while.

 

 

I tried two Napa/Haden fan clutches, neither one worked right. Slow to unlock and slow to lock. Wait till you tow something on a hot day, that will tell the tale. Went back to Mopar, all is well. 

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3 hours ago, NIsaacs said:

 

I tried two Napa/Haden fan clutches, neither one worked right. Slow to unlock and slow to lock. Wait till you tow something on a hot day, that will tell the tale. Went back to Mopar, all is well. 

When I left this pm it disengaged in about 30seconds. Pretty much like the oe. We shall see how it acts in the am. I bought this thing back 13 so it was paid for. Might as well use it. If it does not work out it is not that hard to change.

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I think your fan clutch will work fine.  There were probably a couple of gremlins living in it while it was on the shelf.  They will quickly jump into your wiring harness now that you have installed the fan clutch.  In fact, I think they already have, since you mentioned the fan clutch now seems to be working fine.

 

- John

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Basically in a nutshell.

 

 

Now notice the oil/silicone inside does the clutch action. If the fluid is lost the the fan clutch fails. This why after sitting and cooled the silicone/oil will settle to the bottom. So when fired up there will be a locked fan clutch for a short time in the morning then as the silicone/oil moves to the hub again it will unlock. This is totally NORMAL. It when you reach 210*F and the fan is not locking up then there is a issue. 

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