Potential Dead Fan Clutch after bearing replacement???

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gregnash

gregnash

Anal Retentive Analyst
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So on Friday I went through and replaced the idler pulley bearing and the tensioner. However, for whatever reason, now the fan clutch always "ROARS" like it is not disengaging??
Anyone else have this problem before? Checked my routing of the serpentine belt to see if maybe I did something wrong but it looks appropriate according to the little sticker.

Thoughts?
 
Could just be time to replace it. Has it ever been replaced? I usually swap in a new one every other timing belt service, so get around 150-180k miles out of them.

You can also rebuild them and add new fluid inside, but I’ve never done that. I think @knewstance has/is rebuilding his old one.
 
JunkCrzr89 said:
Could just be time to replace it. Has it ever been replaced? I usually swap in a new one every other timing belt service, so get around 150-180k miles out of them.

You can also rebuild them and add new fluid inside, but I’ve never done that. I think @knewstance has/is rebuilding his old one.
Click to expand...
According to the records that I have, it has never been replaced. So good to know that being at 195k right now I am looking at approximate replacement time. Maybe me hitting the blades and whatnot as I was replacing everything and moving the clutch around just gave it that little extra push over the edge.

I did rebuild one in my 60, not an overly hard job, just time consumptive. Prices seems to be just under $200 depending on where you go for it (16210-50051).
s***ting part is that to get to it and get it out, the fan shroud has to come out. Which means the upper rad hoses likely have to come off too. Wonder if doing a fan shroud split mod like on the 60s would be of any benefit?
 
medtro said:
May be your bearings noise masked the fan clutch noise and you can hear the roar better now with new bearings.
Click to expand...
This was a thought as well. Bearing noise is gone, but was thinking that another whirring type noise I heard was one of the bearings. Realizing I am chasing the same noise as Chow does on his 100 on his YT channel (ChowCares) and for him he replaced EVERYTHING in there and it ended up being this Alt pulley bearing. Fan clutch noise is WAY more annoying the the idle whirring I am hearing.
 
gregnash said:
However, for whatever reason, now the fan clutch always "ROARS" like it is not disengaging??
Click to expand...

Did it not roar before when engaging at start up? It is supposed to. Do you mean "roar" as in lots of wind? or something else?
 
Here’s a good video showing the test procedures to determine if your fan clutch is bad/locked up. He’s doing it on a 4runner but the process is the same for the 4.7.

Btw, you can get the fan clutch out without removing the shroud or rad hoses. Leave the shroud and hoses where they are, remove serp belt, remove the 4 nuts holding the fan to the fan clutch and sit the fan inside the shroud flush against the radiator, then remove the 4 nuts holding the fan clutch to fan bracket. Can then wiggle the fan clutch out.
 
I was having a similar issue. I know what you mean by roaring lol.

I got a fan clutch for $80 or so off Amazon. After install, things got quiet again.

I drained the radiator and removed the lines and such. I probably had the job done under 2 hours. I think the hardest part was getting 4 bolts off to separate the fan clutch from the fan bracket.
 
BullElk said:
Did it not roar before when engaging at start up? It is supposed to. Do you mean "roar" as in lots of wind? or something else?
Click to expand...
Roar was normal on startup and whatnot.. this is lasting as I drive and things warm up. Not continuous but constant.
 
knewstance said:
I was having a similar issue. I know what you mean by roaring lol.

I got a fan clutch for $80 or so off Amazon. After install, things got quiet again.

I drained the radiator and removed the lines and such. I probably had the job done under 2 hours. I think the hardest part was getting 4 bolts off to separate the fan clutch from the fan bracket.
Click to expand...

Did you get an AISIN version or ??
 
Not sure I've seen that issue. I have only changed the clutch fluid but never had to replace the clutch entirely.
 
Awesome thanks guys. I will probably order this week so that I can get this handled. Just took a trip up to see family at the family cabin in Tahoe (45 mins one way) and it was pretty constant the entire time. And to clarify what I mean by that, is that the roar is almost constantly there. So yeah, at freeway speeds it impacts acceleration some and is just annoying.
 
Aisin or OEM clutch is the way to go. Other brands stays engaged at all times pretty much it will be like your old fan clutch. I have an AISIN fan clutch which I did at 220K miles with my T-belt job and I am very satisfied with it.

I installed an aftermarket fan clutch to my 3rd gen 4runner thinking it was the issue of overheating (needle went past 1/2 mark) while I was driving through truckee towards Reno. That fan clutch stayed on and too loud! Replaced it with a good used OEM fan clutch and the sound went away. Clogged old OEM radiator was the reason for overheating.
 
Ok I went ahead and ordered the AISIN clutch from Amazon.. Should be here later this week. Looking through the manuals to see if I can find section on removal and replacement of the clutch. While the Timmy's Tooltime video was good, it was for a 3FZ 4Runner v6. Hopefully it is that easy to get it out as he really didn't have much of a problem. Going through my paperwork the serpentine belt was last replaced at 135k, so probably time for a new one unless you think it should be good to 200k at which point I plan to do the timing belt/waterpump, etc. currently at 195k.
 
Here is something that I found out a few years ago about fan clutches, they must sit vertical (the same way it’d be in the car) for 24hrs before using otherwise the fluid get’s into places it can’t get out of and will stay locked.
So, if you took your fan and fan clutch off, laid them flat on the ground, then installed and started the engine, it is knackered.
I ran into this problem with my Land Rover years ago, fan clutch went bad, replaced, still locked up, replaced, locked up, finally read the instructions in the box...installed, did not drive the truck for 24 hours, problem solved.

No it does not make sense. I have no idea if it is true for all brands of fan clutch. Just sharing my experience.
 
Didn’t take the old one off. Just something that happened after I removed the belt and was replacing the idler pulley and tensioner. Old idler pulley spun super freely but was gritty sounding. New one makes no noise but does not pinwheel like the old one. So maybe it is just because there is now a slight bit more resistance.
Ran around real quick to test the fan clutch to see if it was locking up after warm and I think it has failed in the lock position because it doesn’t spin at all after shutting engine down.
Makes a hard clunk after a couple inches of free play. Will post video to YT and post up so you can see what I am talking about. Regardless new one is on order.
 
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