Fan Clutch Replacement

From the research I've done, it sounds like replacement is simple: Remove fan shroud, and fan assembly and replace. No need to remove radiator, hoses, belt or anything else for that matter. Is this correct? I have a '94 Sport.

Yup, just make sure you get the right length/dept one.

Thankyou. NAPA price: $58. Dealer price: $171

You may find that you need JUST a little more room - if that happens, pull the upper crossmember, and the radiator/condenser assembly will tilt forward about a half-inch. Perfect.

I've done this a few times...


5-90

yardape said:

Thankyou. NAPA price: $58. Dealer price: $171

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$183???? Holy crap, I paid $90 something for mine at the dealer. I went through two bad aftermarket Carquest brand clutches and finally sucked it up and went to the dealer.

When I called around the price got even higher. That's one of the sacrifices you make when you live too near Washington, DC. needless to say I'm going for the NAPA.

Let us know how it fits and how well it works.

dude screw fan clutchs! GO Flex or electric! much cheaper. pull an electic from the pick a part or an old licoln or go to your local pep-boys, autozone, etc. and buy one of those flex fans ($20).

If you're feeling froggy, jump for it. As for myself when it comes to the cooling system I'd prefer to keep it stock. This is my DD and I have to have reliable transportation to and from work. The clutch will be installed this weekend.

cant get more reliable than a flex fan, it will never break or fail.

I've always heard that they dont cool as effectively as clutch fans. Any truth to that?

Flex fans get very noisy. I ended up canning mine on the stroker because of it.

i too ditched mine for an electric setup, but there is a whooshing sound, some might think its cool, might sound like a supercharger. as for cooling, i noticed an overall drop in the temp, it looked like 10*. cheaper than a clutched fan, some say they save mpg, nevr would fail, sounds okay to me only downside is a new noise from under the hood.

xXJx said:

i too ditched mine for an electric setup, but there is a whooshing sound, some might think its cool, might sound like a supercharger. as for cooling, i noticed an overall drop in the temp, it looked like 10*. cheaper than a clutched fan, some say they save mpg, nevr would fail, sounds okay to me only downside is a new noise from under the hood.

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Hey Folks,

I just found this place and lo and behold, the very reason I went looking is being talked about here.

I recently overhauled my 96 XJ 4.0 due to excessive noise from the engine. ie: it rattled like a diesel at idle. After some research I determined that is was most likely piston slap and my brother-in-law and I tore into the engine.

What I neglected to do was read the part in the manual about keeping the fan and clutch assembly in a vertical position to avoid potential damage to the clutch mechanism. At any rate, we put everything back together and things seemed to work great! The engine sounded and ran like a champ. Now that it has turned hot here in the South. (Arkansas) Even at an idle without the A/C running the engine will tend to run 'scary' hot.

At road speed the engine temp is fine although if I run the A/C it is about 20 degrees warmer on the guage than without the A/C. At an idle, even without A/C, the engine temp gets MUCH hotter than I like to see. (almost to the red).

So it sounds like my fan clutch is hosed. I'm inclined to go with an electric fan replacement to supplement the current electric fan that only seems to operate whenever I have the A/C turned on. I've thought about rewiring my existing electric fan such that it runs anytime the engine is running but I don't know if that is the 'best' answer or not.

Just looking for opinions, and reasons for those opinions. Replace the fan clutch or go electric?

Thanks for your replies.

Doug

I'm running a flex fan on my XJ for about a year now, I didn't notice any change in the noise but a Borla exhaust might mask that It cools much better than the clutch fan and it did knock the mileage up some too. Of course the best reason is, they're cheap! You do have to get a "reverse rotation" fan because of the serpentine belt setup. I couldn't get one locally but Summit racing has some to pick from.

OK,... I'll ask the dumb question. What the hell is a flex fan? And by reverse rotation does that mean that the fan is supposed to be drawing air away from the radiator as opposed to blowing on it?

No fans blow air into the radiator, they all pull. The only ones that blow or push air in are the front mounted electrics. A flex fan blade is made from a spring steel type material that as it spins faster the blades flatten out and move less air, as it slows down the fan blades curve back and pull more air. Flip side is if you get in water the blades can flex the opposite way and try to screw the fan into the radiator like a propeller. They work OK for some application but not with the clearances in a 4.0L, they have plenty of room in a 2.5L TJ with it's 18" thick fan shroud.
I've used them a time or two, had one on my 82 S10 2.8L, figured I'd save a few bucks and use that instead of buying a GM fan clutch, switched back after running it all winter and it started running hotter as the weather warmed up. Went back to the factory fan and clutch and problems went away. One up side was the engine was a bit more responsive, would spin up faster but that might have been my imagination.

I replaced the factory clutch on my '01 with a unit from Napa ($48) and it has been working great. Simple to install too, no need to pull anything but the shroud for the clutch fan itself, which can be worked out carefully without removing anything alse. It takes about 30 minutes. Soon Im going to change that Napa unit out for the largest electric that will fit in that spot (I believe 15 or 16"). Ive heard from several good sources that you want to flow at least 2000 cfm, so that would be the only thing to watch for other than the diameter size and depth. Sounds like they cool better than anything else, too!

BCKNBLK said:

I replaced the factory clutch on my '01 with a unit from Napa ($48) and it has been working great. Simple to install too, no need to pull anything but the shroud for the clutch fan itself, which can be worked out carefully without removing anything alse. It takes about 30 minutes. Soon Im going to change that Napa unit out for the largest electric that will fit in that spot (I believe 15 or 16"). Ive heard from several good sources that you want to flow at least 2000 cfm, so that would be the only thing to watch for other than the diameter size and depth. Sounds like they cool better than anything else, too!

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Most people who have gone the totally electric route change back. The fan shroud with the fan set back pulls air thru the entire core as it creates a vacumn in there. The electrics do not, by their very setup they allow hot spots that no air flows thru. The other side is that if you have a problem on the trail with a borderline alt thats just been dunked you have a better chance of getting off the trail and back to a place to fix it with the mechanical fan vs one of the electrics that suck power pretty quick, once the battery grunt is gone you have NO cooling.
All these electronics cut both ways. I've had over the years alternators go out on me and have managed to make it home, mainly because they were all mech fuel pumps and carbs [this XJ is my first FI I ever owned], once it was a 130mi trip from Ft Dix on a sunday, but I made it. Would never have stood a chance if that battery had to supply fuel pump, fans and all the other electronics.
DC did something interesting which to me indicates bored engineers, they drive the new WJ's main cooling fan with the power steering pump. Whether they were trying to eliminate the fan clutch or it was just an excercise in 'what new retarded idea can we come up next' is the question.

Thanks for the explanation Rich. You've seen me posting here alot as I am still on my discovery since the aforemetioned accident. I was looking at my fan spin and I'm not sure if it is still true. It occurred to me that the reason the fan clutch may have failed is that the radiator smacked into it when I was backed into by a Chevy Blazer. If the fan is also slightly out of whack that could cause premature clutch failure as well, right? So I figure why not replace the clutch and fan at the same time. Only problem is that after doing research, it looks like the dealership is the only source for a stock fan. Oh well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.