I have 97 LX450 with 292K. I believe I have an original Fan Clutch. My mechanic told me that I need to replace it because because when I am at the stop sign or waiting for the light to change my AC is not cooling enough. It doesn't make any noises, truck never overheats. Question, is my mechanic correct or it's just not enough freon n the system. I replaced compressor and dryer last April. I bought Denso AC compressor. Thank you!
OEM Fan Clutch or Aisin Fan Clutch will be fine
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I'm in for the long haul, and more then not way off the beaten path.
Not going to trust a $80.00 FC
To add to this I am not convinced that the FC sold by Rockauto are not "seconds" i.e units that wouldn't have had the toyota name scraped off of they met the toyota quality level.
Thans for your replies. I have still some time, so I'll wait for the parts to become available here. Partsouq with shipping and import taxes is at least twice as expensive.
The fan has eaten a radiator with the previous owner. I rounded of the scratches and balanced it. It did well for our last trip of 11K miles. A new one is not expensive, but also not (yet) available here.
Anyway I have ordered some silicon oil. If I get the Aisin clutch I will modify that one, maybe I can also try to store the one that is on the car.
Have you checked your engine mounts? If the fan has a history of eating radiators then you need to solve that issue first.
You do you. $200 in the scheme of landcruiser parts is not a big examples
Countless examples of guys having overheat issues, resolved with reinstalling an oem fan clutch after all avenues have been exhausted.
$200 clutch vs $10k engine rebuild
Case in point, i believe it was Ronald Rooji chasing a solution to AC being marginal in tropical heat a few months back. Several people suggested fan clutch was the solution to that too.
How much did Ronald spend in workshops trying to solve a $200 problem?
Noted. I added a AUX electric fan to the trans rad as well.You do you. $200 in the scheme of landcruiser parts is not a big examples
Countless examples of guys having overheat issues, resolved with reinstalling an oem fan clutch after all avenues have been exhausted.
$200 clutch vs $10k engine rebuild
Case in point, i believe it was Ronald Rooji chasing a solution to AC being marginal in tropical heat a few months back. Several people suggested fan clutch was the solution to that too.
How much did Ronald spend in workshops trying to solve a $200 problem?
We did not spent a lot on the AC during that trip, basically because we could not find any (reasonable) parts in South America. We had the AC checked, cleaned and refilled, replacing dryer and valve, which was ok to do anyway (and relatively cheap in Brasil).You do you. $200 in the scheme of landcruiser parts is not a big examples
Countless examples of guys having overheat issues, resolved with reinstalling an oem fan clutch after all avenues have been exhausted.
$200 clutch vs $10k engine rebuild
Case in point, i believe it was Ronald Rooji chasing a solution to AC being marginal in tropical heat a few months back. Several people suggested fan clutch was the solution to that too.
How much did Ronald spend in workshops trying to solve a $200 problem?
The problem we had was that the AC intermittently stopped working. Using the maintenance manual and specially suggestions on this forum we finally found the problem to be a very small leak in the coolant system. Should have been the first thing to look into, but nobody did. I usually check fluids before start-up, but we were too much focussed on the AC.
After the trip, as advised, I installed an OBD2 dongle (had left that one in another car at home) for monitoring engine-temp using an app. I have now ordered a dedicated display which I will install next time.
The fan does not 'eat' radiators. The previous owner had bumped into something damaging the radiator and a bit of the fan tips. The picture I atteached in previous posts shows the front after I removed it some years ago. Some parts have been replaced but the fan and clutch are still the same.
I hope this explains a bit more.
(I have another issue on the AC which I will post in another thread).
This week I was reading in on the Fan-clutches. They don't look rocket-science and, to my feeling, as long as the bi-metal spring is opening the valves and it is temperature adjustable, it should be possible to recondition. It is not that I do not want to spent 200$, but if 10$ of silicone oil and some work could do the trick why not?
Apart from that the Aisin clutch is not in stock here in the Netherlands and ordering at Partsouq is 200$ plus shipping + taxes. Also following suggestions on this forum I should modify it anyway. There are quite a few of other makes available here like Ashiko, Japanparts, Sachs and so on but they are not mentioned on this forum, so I have no clue if and how to modify them. I have no time for a lot of trial and error.
This forum is really great, but on fan-clutches there is not only a lot of information but it also covers randomly different makes and a broad spectrum of suggestions as to temperatures, cst-values and volumes.
Because I am not in the same location as the car right now, my first question was if someone can identify the make of the clutch fan on my car from the attached picture. From that I can work my way through the forum more focussed.
The Fan can definitely eat radiators.
If a chunk of that fan decides to remove itself from the rest of the fan, it can definitely go through your radiator
As the fan gets old, the plastic becomes brittle that in itself is enough reason to replace it, but when I see damage and cracks, it needs to be replaced.
It’s your rig do as you please, but in my opinion that fan needs to be replaced.
If a chunk of that fan decides to remove itself from the rest of the fan, it can definitely go through your radiator
As the fan gets old, the plastic becomes brittle that in itself is enough reason to replace it, but when I see damage and cracks, it needs to be replaced.
It’s your rig do as you please, but in my opinion that fan needs to be replaced.
You are right but the attached picture was from some years ago. Fan has been replaced since. Clutch is still the same as I then thought it worked ok.
I am not in the same location as the car right now, so not possible to remove it and check the make. I'm in Europe the car is in South-America.
Last week replaced fan, blue Aisin clutch, shroud and belts for new.
This should be ok now.
Now having issues with AC, fan (LX450 automatic AC) and leaking steering pump.
Always fun the old cars.
This should be ok now.
Now having issues with AC, fan (LX450 automatic AC) and leaking steering pump.
Always fun the old cars.
So, an update over two years.
I now have two summers and another 30K miles on this truck. (385K).
The highest temp I've seen is 198°F.
In the dead of winter it's about 182°F.
The fan roars at every startup and every time I pull away from a stop sign. It quiets down in a few seconds.
Overall, I am thrilled with the operation of it since I did the rework.
My documented gas mileage has not changed.
96 LC 1FZ-FE