My Radiator Fan Exploded Today!

I live in Brunswick, ME. Coastal but not directly coastal. So yeah lots of salt air to corrode metal parts. Worst part of this is the mechanic was likely looking directly at this part when they were changing out idler pulleys.

 

Looks like they missed one pulley, the one in the last pic. And the fan hides behind the cover. You really can't see it without contorting yourself.

Now is not a bad time to replace the water pump, fan clutch, and related coolant components. I plan on doing all that as preventive maintenance by 250K. I wasn't planning on replacing the fan, but will now look into that.

 

Chuy, this one? They didn't put the belt back on right?

 

Did they replace the belt?

Its possible they messed the fan up while getting ham down in there replacing pulleys / replacing belt. One cracked fan blade from a slip of a wrench/ratchet, going up a hill fan clutch kits on spins the fan at higher rpms, BOOM.

 

I would've honestly expected more damage, especially to wiring.

 

Not alot of wiring in the fan area, luckily it looks like the fan shroud took the worst of it and managed to contain most of the damage. Can't see from the pictures how the radiator cores fared though.

 

Will know soon enough when insurance gets through with it.

 

Hard to tell from the angle of the pic. See pic below.

 

The picture with the ps reservoir on the left, rearward of it and below the air intake hose is the remains of the coolant reservoir. I’ll bet it came loose, hit the fan and caused the damage.

 

I take the no. idler was on the wrong side of the pulley.

 

In the picture the belt is routed correctly over the pulley.

 

You're filing an insurance claim for this?

 

Hey neighbor! You're filing an insurance claim for this?

Im sure you're back up and running now, but if you need a hand let me know. Im still amazed there wasn't more damage..

 

Yeah, unfortunately this happened up in Waldoboro. Still without. Let's get in touch, I'm always interested in learning more about mechanics and working on cars

 

Sure man feel free to shoot me a PM. Once you get a new shroud, fan, some coolant and anything else you need on order we can figure out a time. Unfortunately weekends are at a premium during the summer, but we should be able to knock this out in an evening after work.

Youre sure there is no damage to the radiator itself?

 

Nothing to add regarding the repair but how's the frame? There's quite a bit of rust in the engine bay.

 

Frame was replaced in 2016. I wouldn't have looked twice if there was even an inkling of an issue with the frame.

 

I got to peek at this and it seems like the fan clutch seized. I could not spin it at all.

 

That is definitely a bad sign. Hopefully some new plastic pieces and a fan/clutch assembly will fix you right up.

 

What fan clutch are you going to replace it with? You can get a OEM Aisin fan clutch on rockauto.