QuestionQUESTION: Hi,
Just replaced water pump and fan clutch due to noise and leaking, and fan now wobbles. Used same fan, new clutch, new press sleeve and new pump. pump seems solid, fan wobbles intermittently as if engine is missing. sometimes it looks mostly, straight, then wobbles in timed intervals, like it would if engine shuttered. new water pump was just a wee bit shorter than old one, so it rubbed off the tips of the fan blades.( or I put it on too far) I cut the rubbed ends back as evenly as I could. where should i start to find the wobble. an electric fan is starting to sound really good. ;(
thanks
Chris Runnels
ANSWER: Hi Chri,
If you trimmed the ends of the blades, you for sure upset the balance of the blade and that is what is wrong now. The press on sleeve could also be damaged due to the tips hitting.
Howard
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Ok. I did only snip off a tiny piece on the inside corner of each blade. Maybe 1/4" or so. Was thinking of going to the fixed fan setup. Any thoughts.
Thanks so much.
AnswerIt takes very little off a blade to upset the balance of the fan blade. It is very difficult to re-balance a fan blade.
I like electric fans as you can make the control automatic or a manual switch to control it. Most cars don't require a fan at all above 35 MPH as the ram air going in the front is usually enough to cool the radiator. There has always been a debate as to which side of the radiator to run a fan. I have tried the "Pull through" like the engine fan was and the other is the "blow through" where you mount the fan in front of the radiator to force air through it. The problem with the pull type is that you either need a fan shroud close to the tips of the fan or put the fan blade very close to the radiator. The front mounted blow through type don't need a shroud and don't even need to be very close to the radiator. There are many different brands of both types in the aftermarket. But be sure to use a heavy gauge wire for the power and ground and a relay as most draw a lot of current.
There is also usually a lot more room in front of a radiator to put a fan. I don't like the ones that mount through the fins of the radiator so I usually fabricate my own fan mounts so as to not even contact the radiator.
The trouble with engine driven fans is that they work backwards. Meaning when you are going slow in heavy traffic on a hot day the fan is not running fast and it needs to. and when you are cruising at speed, you don't even need a fan and it is running fast. An electric is running fast all the time unless you have it turn off when the coolant don't need it. (Some come with all the thermostatic switches etc.)
I like a blow through fan with the thermostatic control to switch on and off as the coolant temperature needs it.
Howard
