Horst001

91 F150 4.9l
Last night about 3 blocks from home my engine started to make some horrible clanking sounds. I pulled over, shut the truck down and inspected what I could at 11:30 in freezing weather, looked like the fan had a little play and the belt was sliding up and down around the fans pulley a little bit. It started up, drove it to my street, on the way down my street I heard the last clank, I put it in park and went to check on it today

Right now there is a puddle of coolant on the ground, the belt is wrapped around the fan. Im a medic not a mechanic, I dont have a book on the truck so I really dont know what im doing. I did some reading around here, I guess its a fan bearing or something around those lines that caused the fan to wobble - ok fine I will keep searching for a How-to on correcting that issue. The belt needs to be replaced, fine, I will do a search for that also... but the antifreeze leak is what has me worried to death. I only spent a couple minutes out there because everything is covered in snow but it appears to be leaking from something to the left and below the fan - any ideas at this point? I will head back out there and try to get to the bottom of this - im lucky to have the 26th off but the truck needs to be running by the 27th. Any help you guys can give would be greatly appreciated

Horst001

Ok, I *think* the antifreeze is leaking from the radiator return hose , the belt could have grabbed it and cracked it (I hope thats the issue). The belt itself looks brand new, it makes sense because it was replaced not long ago

So now I guess, what sort of tools am I going to need to put the belt back on, and what do I need to do to fix the fan from having the play it has (enough to throw a belt) and replace that. What should I run out and buy - maybe how the belt actually goes on (any resources for diagrams or how-to's anybody knows about that would help a fool like me)

05 super

here's a diagram

dewman

The tools you will need to replace the radiator hose are a flat bladed screwdriver and/or a small socket to loosen the hose clamp that holds either end of the hose to the truck. The fan may be more complicated than that. It could be that the bolts that hold the fan to the water pump have come loose, giving it the play you speak of. Or the fanclutch could have gone bad and would need replacing. Would it be possible for you to post a picture of the fan inside the engine bay? That might make it easier to see what you are talking about.

Horst001

Sounds easy enough, and thanks for the diagram - I assume the belt has a decent enough tolerance that the tension can be eyeballed (I have a pretty good idea, and the tensioner is where it was so I can adjust it pretty closely)

The fan rests exactly where it should, but as soon as it has any torsional forces put on it, it decides to wobble. Maybe ~15-20 degrees at this point in either direction. Not sure exactly how the fan is all hooked up at this point, I see the giant 1.5 inch bolt or whatever between the fan clutch and the rest of the motor, and I know the problem is closer to the engine then it is the fan/clutch. My descriptions are pathetic because my lack of knowledge, I will try to get a picture up tomorrow. Is it safe to unbolt whatever it is that the fan clutch/fan bolt on to? (cause I think thats the problem) or is that going to mess up something internally?

Thank you guys for the responses, I appreciate the help

GMan

water pump?

FingOldRebuiltDodge

That's what it sounds like to me. If you have play in the fan and antifreeze on the ground, I would bet money that the waterpump bearings went, not the fan. If you don't know much about it, you might be money ahead to let someone who is do it for you. Might save you some headaches in the long run. Good Luck.

Jim

Horst001

Yea, looks like the waterpump. I ran out and grabbed up a new one but am having a hell of a time getting the old one out. Any chance you guys know the order in which things should be removed. I pulled the shroud, all the hoses that need to be removed, unbolted the fan (but the clutch is still on) and undid the pulley (but again, the clutch is still on). There is a large bolt that seems to hold the fan/pulley/clutch to the waterpump and I frankly have no idea how to get it off because the water pump wants to rotate with it. I tried removing the pump and sliding it down but it seems with the fan/clutch/pulley still attached I lack the clearance needed unless the radiator is pulled

transmaster

I always remove the Radiator. It makes things so much easier, and you don't take the chance of damaging it while you are wrangling the water pump

smp5937

What may look like a bolt in the center of the pulley, is most likely just the shaft of the pump...the pulley may neeed to be tapped off, probably just stuck on from time...tap on it and I bet it comes off...