Best way to check fan clutch? Chirping noise
01-12-2017, 05:33 AM
#11
Moderator (Ret.)
As Autoanything mentions, with the engine off, the fan blade should have some resistance when spinning it by hand. If it spins freely, it is most likely a bad fan clutch. With the engine off of course, grab the fan and spin it; if it moves more than a quarter revolution, its bad.
My 2007 4.6 (and the 5.4's) has an electric clutch. There will be a wiring harness on the fan clutch. This allowed the fan to be turned off at speeds above a certain range, as enough air would flow through the radiator at speed, so the fan did not need to spin.
Earlier years used a non electric clutch fan. My 2005 with the 4.2 V6 did not have an electric clutch fan.
To replace the fan clutch, you'll need a large (36 MM I think) wrench to remove the fan bolt, and I believe to loosen you turn it clockwise instead of counter clockwise (when facing the front of the engine). You also need a way to keep the waterpump pulley from spinning; there's a wrench that used to grasp on two of the 4 waterpump pulley bolts to do this. Most auto stores will lend you the tool kit to do this. Some have fab'd a bracket to hold the waterpump pulley from spinning. Search here for removing the fan, as this has been discussed before. Eat your Wheaties prior to loosening this bolt! Having a good, large breaker bar will help.
My 2007 4.6 (and the 5.4's) has an electric clutch. There will be a wiring harness on the fan clutch. This allowed the fan to be turned off at speeds above a certain range, as enough air would flow through the radiator at speed, so the fan did not need to spin.
Earlier years used a non electric clutch fan. My 2005 with the 4.2 V6 did not have an electric clutch fan.
To replace the fan clutch, you'll need a large (36 MM I think) wrench to remove the fan bolt, and I believe to loosen you turn it clockwise instead of counter clockwise (when facing the front of the engine). You also need a way to keep the waterpump pulley from spinning; there's a wrench that used to grasp on two of the 4 waterpump pulley bolts to do this. Most auto stores will lend you the tool kit to do this. Some have fab'd a bracket to hold the waterpump pulley from spinning. Search here for removing the fan, as this has been discussed before. Eat your Wheaties prior to loosening this bolt! Having a good, large breaker bar will help.
Last edited by Mod (Ret.); 01-12-2017 at 05:42 AM.
The following 2 users liked this post by Mod (Ret.):
adanvjr (01-12-2017),
AutoAnything (01-12-2017)
01-12-2017, 11:11 AM
#12
Senior Member
Thread Starter
As Autoanything mentions, with the engine off, the fan blade should have some resistance when spinning it by hand. If it spins freely, it is most likely a bad fan clutch. With the engine off of course, grab the fan and spin it; if it moves more than a quarter revolution, its bad.
My 2007 4.6 (and the 5.4's) has an electric clutch. There will be a wiring harness on the fan clutch. This allowed the fan to be turned off at speeds above a certain range, as enough air would flow through the radiator at speed, so the fan did not need to spin.
Earlier years used a non electric clutch fan. My 2005 with the 4.2 V6 did not have an electric clutch fan.
To replace the fan clutch, you'll need a large (36 MM I think) wrench to remove the fan bolt, and I believe to loosen you turn it clockwise instead of counter clockwise (when facing the front of the engine). You also need a way to keep the waterpump pulley from spinning; there's a wrench that used to grasp on two of the 4 waterpump pulley bolts to do this. Most auto stores will lend you the tool kit to do this. Some have fab'd a bracket to hold the waterpump pulley from spinning. Search here for removing the fan, as this has been discussed before. Eat your Wheaties prior to loosening this bolt! Having a good, large breaker bar will help.
My 2007 4.6 (and the 5.4's) has an electric clutch. There will be a wiring harness on the fan clutch. This allowed the fan to be turned off at speeds above a certain range, as enough air would flow through the radiator at speed, so the fan did not need to spin.
Earlier years used a non electric clutch fan. My 2005 with the 4.2 V6 did not have an electric clutch fan.
To replace the fan clutch, you'll need a large (36 MM I think) wrench to remove the fan bolt, and I believe to loosen you turn it clockwise instead of counter clockwise (when facing the front of the engine). You also need a way to keep the waterpump pulley from spinning; there's a wrench that used to grasp on two of the 4 waterpump pulley bolts to do this. Most auto stores will lend you the tool kit to do this. Some have fab'd a bracket to hold the waterpump pulley from spinning. Search here for removing the fan, as this has been discussed before. Eat your Wheaties prior to loosening this bolt! Having a good, large breaker bar will help.
Okay, thanks.