cracked (functioning) plastic fan blade by radiator

[eric mentzer]

1996 4.0 explorer 87 k miles. just replaced my wobbling idler pulley, which the one i removed said china and looked identical to replacement. maybe not the original? Anyway after pulling the intake i noticed the fan blade had cracks inbetween the blades, some 3/4 from back towards front, some all the way cracked front to back. The fan seems very sturdy despite this. i marked with a marker to see if its progressing i was just wondering if i trust it to go up for the last day of archery saturday (150 miles 3 hours trip). looks involved to replace. Also does the fan run all the time? Bolt on idler pulley was typical righty tighty right hand threads despite all the conflicting info i read online. Thanks for your time.

 

[koda2000]

Very common issue. If the cracks reach either edge, replace the fan. OE on RockAuto around $40.

You'll probably be fine for your trip. The fan is on a thermal clutch. It always appears to be spinning, but when the engine/radiator is hot it works harder.

 

[eric mentzer]

im considering painting the cracks with JB weld lol. how bad is it to repair? radiator have to come out?

 

[koda2000]

You have to detach the fan shroud and hold it out of your way, remove the fan clutch from the W/P snout, remove a few bolts and the old fan, install the new fan and reassemble in reverse order.

On a scale of 1-10 (10 be very difficult) I'd rate the job a 2. The hardest part is removing the fan clutch from the W/P snout.

I don't think JB weld would even stick to the fan's plastic, or do a helpful repair even if it would stick.

 

[XLTrunner]

Don't waste your time trying to fill the cracks with JB Weld. It won't provide a strong, lasting bond to plastic such as this ( I know this from experience attempting it on other plastic repairs). Don't know what engine you have (or, if it even matters), but on my SOHC the radiator doesn't need to come out. Can't remember, but the fan shroud may have to, though (easy enough on my truck). It would also be easier to remove/replace if you invest in, borrow or rent the proper wrench set to hold the pulley from turning while loosening the retaining nut. Think I paid less than $20 for mine.

 

[lobo411]

Koda's right...it's a 20 min job if you've done it before. Maybe 45 mins or an hour if not. You need the fan removal tool, which you use to keep the fan from spinning while you loosen the attaching bolts.

 

[RangerX]

This was a real big topic of concern on this forum back when we only had gen1 and gen2 sections. At that time, I checked my fan and it had the cracks. I never replaced it, and it's been maybe 18 years and 250,000 more miles on it.

 

[96eb96]

160ishK and original fan. I have all the service records. It is cracked too.

 

[XLTrunner]

The center hub area where these crack is pretty stout...and, every Explorer I've owned over the past 25 yrs have had cracks in them to some degree. I always kept an eye on them...but, never felt an urgent need to replace any. I've dug thru dozens and dozens of Explorers in the local U Pull over the years and every one I looked at had cracks in the hubs. And, even with 250K + miles on many, never saw one that appeared even close to coming apart.

 

[koda2000]

I replaced the fan on my '00 5.0L XLT (210K) because the cracks went all the way to the edges of the plastic. I felt it was necessary, so I did it for my piece of mind. All my other Expl's/Mountaineers fans have/had cracks, but none so bad that I was worried about them.

If you have to borrow the fan clutch removal tool from the auto parts store I've found O'Reilly's tool is the best quality and work the easiest. The other brands the other stores lend are junk and tend to just stretch and slip off the nut.