Fan wobbles-clutch, water pump

[Kjhadfield]

Alright maybe about a couple weeks back I noticed a slight squeal coming from the pulley/belt area but was very low and intermittent. I bought a stethoscope to try and pinpoint location but that's when my truck started idle rough and if given gas would cut out (I posted a thread about this not long ago, which has happened a few times but over 6 months time)-which is why I never looked into it further because id forget about it. Because of that I forgot to look further into the squeal. Last weekend I installed my tires (265/75r16) and coincidently noticed a louder roar (I had removed the silencer awhile back, which already made a roar) but this roar seemed louder and I chalked it up to bigger tires or gearing (4.10 stock).

Today I opened the hood with engine still running and when I looked, my fan had a wobble and not slightly. I turn it off to try and manually spin fan and I can barely spin it and only a little (like an inch or so). So I did some searching and think I narrowed it to either fan clutch or water pump bearing (which means basicly replacing the water pump?). And if it is either of the 2 then it might have done damage to the other because they share the same shaft, I think. And if that was my issue I should replace the water pump pulley and my stress cracked fan (since I'm there)? And obviously flush coolant.

166k and I'm not losing coolant but I have had a flush on the list for sometime and I have never done it since owned (96k) and don't know if it was ever done. The temp gauge I don't think shows hot (but I'm sure it's referred to as 1 of the dummy gauges?).

It doesn't look like too bad a job, just tight. My question is how long can i push driving it and what are the potential disasters than can follow? I have an appt to do an alignment tomorrow (20 mins drive there) and don't know if I should still go. Could ask for them to look at my above problem or diagnosis it- how would you diagnosis this. If I can be ok driving for short amount of time-long enough for me to buy parts online and shipped, I'll do it but if I run the risk of doing more damage I don't know if I should wait.

Thanks for your thoughts

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Had the same problem on mine and I thought it was the bearings in the alternator until I popped the hood and saw the fan rotating in a not so circular motion. LOL. I removed the fan and fan clutch to find this...

The fan clutch had gone oblong and was ready to shear the water pump shaft off and send the fan into the radiator (I've dealt with this before on a buddies truck and wasn't risking that since it happened to his truck).

I would take it in for the alignment and ask how much to replace the fan clutch while you're there. It's an easy job and only takes about twenty minutes to replace yourself in the driveway at home.

 

[Kjhadfield]

It took a min to see what I was looking at but its the nut that's off center?

I'm guessing the only way to be sure is to pull it off and check? Was looking at rockauto for 45$ but then I'd have to wait on shipping and thought local would be more expensive but just checked and autozone has for 55$. I wonder if I should just pick it up and when I pull it off to check I'd already have it on hand.

The alignment is being done at Firestone so I know they won't have on hand but if they can check and confirm, I guess on my way home I'll pick up the part and hope the damage didn't transfer to the shaft on the water pump like you said-or come off for that matter. I guess if it still wobbles on rotation after then damage went further? Any other signs that damage extended to the water pump, I guess leaks? Anything else. I didnt see any leaks on the ground earlier when I was looking around/under or when engine on.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Go ahead and pick up the clutch and fan, if the fan has stress cracks it's only a matter of time before it splits and takes out rad hoses, radiator, heater hoses and anything else. I think for now the water pump should be good, you would know if it had transferred over to the pump shaft by now, that would shear off or wobble enough to where it wouldn't turn. Better to be proactive and safe than put it off and get total chaos under the hood.

 

[Kjhadfield]

I did some more searching and watching videos and that roar is definitely (what's the word locked? Slipped) fan clutch. I only really noticed it when the tires were mounted and didn't want to post about it-feeling like a big dummy. So it's been about a week not much longer than that I think/hope. I'm not sure when the fan started to wobble but looking at it shake not true is kinda scary looking, Makes it seem/feel like it's going to shoot off. I don't drive much during the week (2-5 miles a day) so maybe that helped and taking it fairly easy for the tire break-in.

When you referred to knowing if damage had transferred- the part about shearing off was talking about the pump shaft shearing off the pump? And the other part about wobble enough to where it wouldn't turn was referring to the fan not turning? Is that for w/ engine on or off? The fan turns full force when on (w/the wobble) and not when turned off.

I will be doing this tomorrow and hope it doesn't get worse beforehand. Not looking forward to that nut thou. Thanks buddy for the help- hope things are looking up for you

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Yea, it's getting better. Just get a fan clutch tool from the parts store, you should be able to rent it from them. It's pretty easy to remove the whole assembly together.

 

[Kjhadfield]

I have to give a shout out to jerry for the tips and the emergency (not so emergency txt)! Thanks man, everything went off w/out a hitch. I did get the rental tool from autozone with the fan clutch-it was a torqflo by compressorworks. Says it's a severe duty, it seems beefier.

I was worried about getting the nut off/rusted but 1 big tug and it broke free-i didn't get any banged knuckles on this job! The original had the same off center nut as you but the pictures make it seem like yours was bad. I took longer than 20 mins but my ocd decided to clean the fan and shroud (autozone didn't have in stock and wasn't wanting to try and chase 1 down), after clean I inspected the fan and it does have the stress cracks between the fan blades but doesn't extend to the lip or blades. I decided to look to see if my throttle plate would fully open because I have noticed a lack of power since the roar/tires and that looks good and still clean from when I cleaned it awhile back. Got everything back together and started her up-the fan doesn't wobble (not 100% true but I'm guessing there is tolerance) and it doesn't roar anymore. Took it for a spin and my power is back and I don't feel like a turtle. I didn't think the fan clutch would rob power. Also noticed shaking the old fan clutch I could hear rattling inside so that was definitely gone. Tried tugging on the water pump shaft and it didn't budge so I hope that means damage didn't transfer. I'm glad I did the repair myself, easy job. Thanks again

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Great news man. The little wobble with the new clutch might be that the fan isn't 100% centered on the new clutch when you bolted it on. Just make sure to keep an eye on it and retorque the bolts as needed like I mentioned in the text.

 

[HELMUT RONER]

3.0, but same problem.

The 3.0 in my old 2003 Ranger Edge actually lost bearings from the fan clutch. I caught the problem in time. I was rolling down the road and my engine sounded like a huge vacuum cleaner. With the engine off I pushed forward on the fan and heard it "crinkle" inside the fan clutch. I uploaded a few videos on Youtube of it when it was loud and when the fan wobbled ( MUSTANG408W on YouTube ).

 

[Kjhadfield]

Your before of the old fan clutch with engine on focusing on the fan blade wobble, didn't look all that bad. It looked like in the video a slight wobble or not true. My replacement fan clutch has a slight wobble or maybe it's just better to say not true when looking at it sideways. Like how you would watch the belt running true on the various pulleys- which mines aren't bad but can still tell it's not true