Belt Driven Fan Catastrophic Failure

[Cobraguy]

Nobody is saying ignore it. It's just not a life or death problem. Let's see...there are 90K members...and God knows how many millions of those fans on the road (including Mustangs, etc)...and we've now heard of what...5 that's come apart? And where they from the fan or the water pump?? If you see the cracks, then go ahead and replace it. If you don't, the odds are you are MUCH more likely to get in an accident on your way to work than have that fan come apart. I just looked at both of mine...and they both show cracks. Guess I'll change them out...some day.

 

[JOEZ33]

I was just posting my experiences, sorry for screwing up your thread. I guess I figured I was helping somehow, stupid me

, not you- I was just getting irritated at the fact I started the whole thread trying to HELP everyone, thinking that I was saving people from being stranded on the highway, or their wives and kids from being stranded somewhere- and instead of people reading and saying thanks, instead I get almost every response saying whatever, don't worry about it, there's 90 million people on this forum and noone else has EVER had a problem....basically got sick of everyone arguing about it instead of just saying -thanks, your right. Hopefully someone who doesn't think he knows everything will read and learn, and at least know about the fan so they have a chance before it does something bad, IF it fails.

 

[JOEZ33]

Nobody is saying ignore it. It's just not a life or death problem. Let's see...there are 90K members...and God knows how many millions of those fans on the road (including Mustangs, etc)...and we've now heard of what...5 that's come apart? And where they from the fan or the water pump?? If you see the cracks, then go ahead and replace it. If you don't, the odds are you are MUCH more likely to get in an accident on your way to work than have that fan come apart. I just looked at both of mine...and they both show cracks. Guess I'll change them out...some day.

are you going to bring something POSITIVE to this thread? Sorry I didnt see anything except more arguments from you. Like I also said, a cracked fan causes vibrations throughout the engine, beginning with the water pump that its mounted on. This leads to water pump failure and premature wear, please don't start with your armchair quarterback statistics either, I know- I know, there are supposedly 90K members on this site alone and if anyone had a problem YOU would know about it. From now on we can all ask YOU how to fix everything.

 

[96eb96]

are you going to bring something POSITIVE to this thread? Sorry I didnt see anything except more arguments from you. Like I also said, a cracked fan causes vibrations throughout the engine, beginning with the water pump that its mounted on. This leads to water pump failure and premature wear, please don't start with your armchair quarterback statistics either, I know- I know, there are supposedly 90K members on this site alone and if anyone had a problem YOU would know about it. From now on we can all ask YOU how to fix everything.

I agree with you about the fan, but there are so many failure points on an older vehicle. In the northern areas, corrosion can eat these trucks to bone...and cause real life and death situations.

Brake lines with rust do eventually leak - you suddenly lose 1/2 your brakes
Power steering lines corrode at the fittings - no power steering
Starter brush exposed braided wire rots - you don't start, no warning
Shackles rot out, you get the idea.
The idler/tensioner pulleys fail on the earlier 2nd gen exes, you lose all the accessories and overheat.

Makes the fan look tame in comparison, no?

 

[JOEZ33]

thats nice, now I know how to maintain my truck, Thanks I didnt know all that.

 

[Turdle]

Joe
Thanks for pointing out the potential problem!!

Here is a potential solution. One with a payback I would assume

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227617&highlight=electric+fan

 

[JOEZ33]

Thanks for that link! Man I wish I had known about that Mark VIII fan earlier.

I didn't want to install another factory plastic fan, I'm all about upgrading things while they're taken apart- and modernizing a little too. Well that's what I did, installed an electric fan and thermostat. I used the VSC recommended by Aldive (thanks!). The VSC is my variable speed fan controller. The fan I used is a Maradyne, 2192 CFM. It uses 17 amps, not sure if that's great specs or not but the guy at Murrays Speed shop talked me out of buying a Proform fan because they supposedly had most of them returned broken under warranty. He says the Proforms always break and the Maradynes are reliable. I took his word for some reason and bought the Maradyne. For the money I spent I could have gotten a Flex-a-Lite with the thermostat and shroud.

The new fan only comes on if i'm stuck in traffic for more than 3 minutes without moving. It runs for 30 seconds and shuts off. 99% of the time it never needs to come on. This is a major gain in efficiency for the truck, less parasitic drag, less moving parts and more room under the hood. When the fan is running I'm probably using the same amount of energy as the original fan, but since most of the time it's not even turned on, I have more power.

The controller is adjustable, so I can make it turn on at 160 to 220 degrees. Once it's on it's running at 60% speed. If the temp continues to rise instead of fall, then for the next 10 degrees of getting hotter, the fan will eventually speed up to 100% speed. It also has an option for manual on, and also to turn on with the A/C. It came with plenty of wiring, but no instructions. It also looks like it won't handle getting wet. I'm working on a weather proof enclosure for it.