Fan noise

[79rustyk10]

The weekend before last christmas, I put a new fan clutch in my DD. I was rushing because I had to leave to get to my parents place and I forgot to tighten the the bolts that hold the clutch to the water pump.

needless to say about an hour down the road theres a second of a bad vibration then bang, I loose power steering and the batery light turns on.

Long story shortened up because it really doesnt matter, The fan got bent up a little bit and I just bent it back to get the thing going again.

I think there is excessive fan noise and its getting pretty anoying, could it be that the fan not being 100% true is causing the noise?

 

[cybrfire]

The weekend before last christmas, I put a new fan clutch in my DD. I was rushing because I had to leave to get to my parents place and I forgot to tighten the the bolts that hold the clutch to the water pump.

needless to say about an hour down the road theres a second of a bad vibration then bang, I loose power steering and the batery light turns on.

Long story shortened up because it really doesnt matter, The fan got bent up a little bit and I just bent it back to get the thing going again.

I think there is excessive fan noise and its getting pretty anoying, could it be that the fan not being 100% true is causing the noise?

Surely could. Could very well be a vibration and knowing the history of it as you do, i'd definitely start there.

 

[76zimmer]

I replaced the clutch on my 99 6.0 and it got much louder...no vibration though, and now it runs cool too.

 

[diesel4me]

I'd ditch that bent fan blade pronto!...I have had a bent one fail on my '56 Chevy pickup as I was shifting into 3rd gear after winding it up to 45 mph in second gear to get into busy highway traffic,and I heard a loud BANG,and one of the fan blades come right thru my hood!..it slashed the upper radiator hose and crimped the outlet on the radiator it clamped too,and the engine shook SO badly with 3 blades out of 4 left on it,I thought the engine was going to shake right off its mounts! ...............................................................................................I had bent a blade slightly on it one day while working on the engine,I was lying over the engine and my foot slipped,and bent one of the blades,and probably cracked it!--to get home,(4 miles up the road),I had to bend the blade opposite the missing one until it broke off,then it ran somewhat smoother again,and I was able to duct tape the upper hose and fill the radiator with some swampy water alongside of the highway...................................................................................................................................................................................................................A bent fan will be impossible to balance,and will exert bad side loads on water pump bearings & fan clutch, and can kill one in a hurry,and the vibrations wont do any good to the engine or tranny either...and it could fail like mine did,and end up slicing someones jugular or worse...the hood on my '56 was at least double the thickness of a later truck,and it sliced right thru it like nothing...looked like an axe came thru it!...

 

[Fordum]

Yeah, when the brand new water pump froze and snapped the shaft, the things that blade and clutch assembly did under and to my hood were just a crime.

 

[wasted wages]

I knew a guy that got hit by a broken blade...... he was an engine builder helping out a friend getting an old truck running.....

he was leaning across the grill,,,the engine started to die and he reached across to open the throttle a little at the carb linkage....

when the engine reved back up, a rusted blade broke off and almost severed his right arm completely.....between his shoulder and elbow....

he was out of work for over a year.... regained partial use of his arm....but nothing like before the accident...


this taught me to drop all the belts when cranking up an engine that has been sitting for a long period of time..once it is running put the belts back on....close the hood and give it a rev test....

 

[mill5471]

I replaced the clutch on my 99 6.0 and it got much louder...no vibration though, and now it runs cool too.

same here replaced the clutch on our 01' 6.0 and it sounds like a plane revving up when starting off down the driveway or pulling away from a light. also runs a tad cooler when plowing

 

[79rustyk10]

Maybe this is a good time to upgrade to electric fans then.

Ill get another fan this weekend just in case.

 

[diesel4me]

After I learned you can "lock" a thermostatic clutch fan to stay "on" all the time,and I did so,to keep my engine from boiling over with the plow blade on at extended highway driving,I had to be careful not to wind it up too high going thru the gears,or risk tossing the blades off the fan or snapping the water pump shaft off...my 400SB I had in my '77 K2500 had the water pump shaft snap off after I trued using a "fan clutch eliminator" along with a 2" spacer,it was too long and wobbly,and it sheared off right as I was piling up snow with it.......................................took out the fan shroud and belts,but missed the radiator somehow!!.........................................................................................My brother worked with a guy at a Lincoln dealership back in the 80's,he saw a co-worker get a fan blade in his chest near the shoulder after it threw a blade off--some Fords were recalled for having fiberglass fans that shattered,and the guy was using a timing light to see if the centrifical advance was working OK by revving the engine up to about 3500 rpms,and BANG!...he got slashed pretty badly,had to be taken to the ER by ambulance..lost a lot of blood!................he survived it though...............................................................................................I learned the hard way to either cut the old belts off a junkyard car engine before starting it,or to stand FAR away after starting it...one engine we started to see if it ran to sell,decided to shred a v-belt just as I was leaning over the engine..it gave me a good "whippin" I didn't soon forget!..