Take the fan off and closely look at all of the blade roots. Any cracks here renders the fan US. I acquired a fan S/H a while back and when looking as it closely, every blade had a crack in it.
I can inspect the blade roots very carefully without removing the fan and have done so as I assumed this would be where any cracking would start (thanks for confirming) - not a hint of cracking even using liquid (penetrating oil) to help show up hairline cracks. As a preventative maintenance activity I’m not sure removing the fan on each occasion is quite what I am looking for but a regular close inspection of the blade roots is now on the maintenance schedule.
I would advise against removal, unless you need to. Better don't mess around with it ...
It is only one nut on the viscous coupling to remove the fan from the engine to inspect it. I highly recommend you do it that way, you will be amazed at what you can see when you get it in the right light.
Your call however, your car.
A new OEM fan is less than £60 so I think I’ll just change it at next years annual service and have done with it. It’ll be another of those regular preventative maintenance items alongside the refurbished EAS valve block and compressor although this one has lasted over 20 years and 125k miles so I’ll put it on the schedule for changing again in 2043 🤣
Garvin
Is that less than £60 fan OEM as in Original Equipment Manufacturer Land Rover part or OEM as in the brand of aftermarket parts specially chosen to confuse the unwary.
Best I could see for official Land Rover product, which may or may not be actual original spec or just this weeks flavour of aftermarket in box with a green oval sticker, was a bit over £85.
Hafta say I'm surprised at the number of suppliers and different prices for what must be a part with a fairly small market. Although failure is catastrophic it doesn't appear to be all that common. Especially given the age of our vehicles and the known propensity of plastics to get brittle with age and heating / cooling cycles.
I'd be little bit worried about one from a "we put our badge on a Chinese fan" supplier being made from a less than good formulation of plastic and / or suffering from poor process control when moulding. Getting the right injection temperature into a mould at the right temperatures and cooling down at the right rate makes an immense difference to strength. Early die cast motorcycle wheels got an unenviable reputation for spokes cracking away from the hub due to the effect of thermally induced stress locked in by poor cooling control. Seeing a couple with only 3 out of 10 spokes still attached was somewhat sobering. For all practical purposes our fan blades are pretty much mechanically equivalent from the stress point of view with the added bending load imposed by the air being blown through it. Whether the out of balance effects from uneven blade spacing make any difference is beyond me.
Clive
Clive,
The OEM is a Rimmer Bros OEM whereas their Genuine LR one is £102. I tend to trust Rimmer Bros but who really knows!
Just got round to refitting all the bits, takes a while as I have to shuttle down to Dorset where I left it. Now I need to find time to fill up the PAS, trans and coolant system (the fun part). Fingers crossed the PAS doesn't start spewing D3 from an unseen hole somewhere. I would have replace the compressor to steering box line, but they come in over 100 pounds, so i thought I would test it first, as far as I can see the hose is steel braided so wd repel high speed pastic better than simple rubber. The reservoir had a hole in the side, so that got replaced too
BTW, for anyone worried about their fan, I got my replacement from Island 50 quid, Borg Warner, made in Germany
This is good to know!
I ordered the complete unit, including the viscous unit, and OEM rating from British Landrover in Belgium. But it certainly wasn't £50. It is costing €220 in cluding delivery to Ireland.
The item that I have ordered is Fan Assembly - PGG101290P1 - OEM. Rimmer Bros have listed at €160 but then I would have to add import taxes plus delivery so there isn't much difference in getting it from Belgium, except that I don't have to prat about paying the courier the taxes, VAT and admin charges when it arrives. I just get it left at my front door, as per EU purchases.
I couldn't find anything in my cars paperwork, I have a big file of service work that came with the car when I bought it, that suggests that the fan has ever been changed, and the stories both here and elsewhere have finally persuaded me that a new, known unit is really a must. So I decided to get the loose change from down the back of the sofa and just buy a new unit. The only problem now will be when I can fit it. The weather outside isn't the warmest but, hopefully, there may be a spell of warmer weather that will give me a chance.
Pierre3.
The fan on the diesel is different as each blade is separate so highly unlikely it would fail in the same way. This is the petrol one https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/cooling-4046-err4960g-p-3432.html and I suspect before one lets go a number of the blades will have cracked at the hub.
Richard, that is an interesting observation. I think that I will change it anyway, just to be safe !!
Pierre3.