how to test clutch fan

[patrolla]

just wanting to know if there's an easy way of testing whether the clutch fan is stuffed, without taking it to a workshop. i had heard that you try and stop the clutch fan with a piece of wood or similar by trying to jam the wood against it...?

[its aford not a nissan]

lol noooooooo dont use a piece of wood , but if you do take a vid

when you first start it in the morning , it should be engauged for the first 30 to 60 secs or so ( when reving ) , it should then dissengauge till the thermostat opens , when the thermostat opens , hot water will start flowing through the radiator , this is when the fan should reengauge , when the fan is engauged you will hear it roar when reving at around 2000 rpm or above , if your thermostat opens and the temp just keeps going up and the fan isnt roaring , then there is something wrong somewhere

[patrolla]

but my fan seems to run all the time...? or will it operate at different engine speeds?

[its aford not a nissan]

it will always spin , it is just how hard it spins which varies , if it is always roaring and sucking a crap load of air all the time then there is something wrong also

[chpd80]

When the engine is cold (apart from the first few seconds of start-up) their should be no resistance but it will be spinning, wrap a towel or rag around your hand and try to stop it by gradually increasing pressure on the blades,
when cold it is easy to stop it. (have done it many times)
When hot it pretty much cant be stoped with your hands.

Dont use anything hard.

If you hurt your hands I didnt tell you to do it
just remember to sneak up gradually on it dont just ram your hand in their.

[351ciofgrunt]

You dont have to do this test with the engine running!

With the engine cold and turned off, spin the fan with your hand and it will be able to spin freely.

Go for a drive and run the engine up to temp, then switch the engine off and grab the fan and see how easy it is to turn, if the clutch fan is working then the fan will have a lot of resistance and be very hard to spin.

[chpd80]

Thats a much better way

not as exciting but much safer

[Red Dog 4x4]

Pull the fan and clutch of the car 4 6mm nuts on the. When it is out of the car grab the part that bolts to the water pump and try to spin the fan you'll find it easy when cold, now grab a jet lighter or something that has a good hot flame, in the center of the clutch there will be a coiled up spring heat this up and you'll find you can't spin the fan this is how the clutch works ( Hot air coming through the rad ) but you'll need to monater tempsto find out its engage point.