Clutch Fan - Older Cruiser Weak Link????

[MICKruiser]

My 1HZ has always ran a little warm going up our steep Kootenay hills since I got it 1 1/2 years ago. Now that I am getting a trailer I decided I better check some things out.

Pulled apart my clutch fan yesterday and tested it using the excellent step by step thread:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=102633&

I was surprised to find that, though the unit looked in great shape, the clutch fan didn't start to "open" until the temp reached 180F. As per the above thread, that temp seems way high.

Is there a standard temp where those fans should kick in? According to the above thread the ideal is 95F. That's way way lower than mine was working at.

You can adjust the clutch fans (again check out the above thread) but the best I could get my fan down to was 140F. So I adjusted the fan and stuck in an extra tube of silicone lube and put it back on the truck.

Big change. Now the temp needle does not move (at about 1/4) even going up a fairly steep hill outside of town (Nelson).

I'll try it with a loaded trailer in a week or two, but it looks like the fan just wasn't working to spec any more. There may be natural deterioration in the outside temp spring due to age, no matter what the mileage (145k for my truck).

Big thanks to Rick and others for the great work on fan clutches in previous posts.

 

[crushers]

yep, much closer to a fixed fan ... which in my books is the best for the HZ that is workign hard...

 

[MICKruiser]

yep, much closer to a fixed fan ... which in my books is the best for the HZ that is workign hard...

I think that the clutch fan would probably be fine, as long as it's working. (Big point here)

But with a fixed fan you don't have to worry about whether it's working or not.

Is there a spec for when these fans should be kicking in??? There's a big difference between what Rick says is right, 95F, and what mine was working at, 180F.

The other point to make is that probably all older cruisers (like JDM's) with clutch fans will probably have this problem.

 

[canucksafari]

It is talked about on the Aussie Nissan Patrol forum as well. Apparently it is more an issue of the age of the fluid or lack there of. The Nissan clutch fans are sealed units but with some drilling and some tubes of the new Toy fluid work like new again. I think the new ones are around $200 on ebay Australia. BTW, what did Toyota ding you for the fluid and does every dealership stock it? I should do mine because my fan is also kicking in a bit late.

 

[MICKruiser]

It is talked about on the Aussie Nissan Patrol forum as well. Apparently it is more an issue of the age of the fluid or lack there of. The Nissan clutch fans are sealed units but with some drilling and some tubes of the new Toy fluid work like new again. I think the new ones are around $200 on ebay Australia. BTW, what did Toyota ding you for the fluid and does every dealership stock it? I should do mine because my fan is also kicking in a bit late.

Around 8 bucks per small container . . . I'm told takes about 3 of those to fill an empty clutch fan.

But there are different weights and a lot of people think that Toyota's stock weight for North America, 3000 CST, is a little light, especially since stock weight for Australia is 10000 CST.

If you can get it here are the part numbers for the different weights from Toyota:

3,000 Cst. = 08816-03001
6,000 Cst. = 08816-06001
10,000 Cst. = 08816-10001

If you can't get it you can also go another route. Check out this post and thread:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=1931868&postcount=27

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=141457&

It seems that you can source similar fluid, at different weights, for less $$$. Rick has been doing a lot of work with 80's clutches and if he says it's good, then it should be good.

 

[canucksafari]

Thanks. That is exactly the info I need. Now all I need is the time to do it. John