Viscous fan not coming off

Hi all,

I have a 300tdi 110, and after reading the many past threads here, I still cannot get my bloody fan off. I have the wrench to grip the nut, and I know I'm trying to undo it in the correct direction (standing in front of the car facing the engine, moving the wrench clockwise, the top left to right... the same direction the fan spins normally). I had a problems with the pully moving at first, but I solved that with vice grips (stilton wrench?) and the but still won't budge. In fact the wrench is starting to slip off towards the fan each time I try and it looks like I'm starting to strip the nut, which is why I've stopped. The wrench was always a bit of a loose fit with lots of play, but I assumed that was OK.

I'm thinking about taking it to the dealer and just getting them to do it, but I hate that idea.

Any suggestions?

- Andrew

are you hitting the spanner with a hammer? try getting a flat piece of steel, place one end on a flat of the nut and hit with a hammer, the shock of doing this should free off any grime thats holding it on. the only thing after this would be to apply some heat to it.

I was hitting the wrench with a hammer, and generally trying to jerk it as well as applying slow pressure.

I'll try banging on it via a bit of steel like you suggest, can't hurt. Not sure how to get any heat down there!

- Andrew

I recently replaced my visco fan clutch and bought one of these: Viscous Fan Hub Tool 32 & 36mm - 4x4 Store

Worked like a charm to take off the original when coupled with a screw driver jammed into one of the pulley holes to stop the whole assembly from spinning. It sounds like you're trying to turn it the right way and I think the tight fit of the purpose-made tool would help.

Actually, it was so tight that it wouldn't fit onto the crappy Bitpart fan clutch that I bought to replace the original. For what it's worth, I also took it all apart again (because I guessed wrong that the fan clutch was my problem) using just the adjustable and it was noticeably more difficult.

Already using the special spanner.... the 32mm end is a bit loose on the nut though. The first time I put it on I noticed I had about 2 inches of play at the end of the spanner.

- Andrew

AndrewPrior said:

Already using the special spanner.... the 32mm end is a bit loose on the nut though. The first time I put it on I noticed I had about 2 inches of play at the end of the spanner.

- Andrew

Click to expand...

are you sure you aint using a 36mm spanner?

The spanner has two ends, 32mm and 36mm. The 36mm is VERY loose. The 32mm has about 3/4" of play at the end of the wrench (I was just out there and saw I exagerated 2"). It's hard to see, but I think the nut is acutally twisted or something, which would explain why the spanner is always twisting off... there's a bit of space between the nut and the fan and the spanner keeps ending up falling into there.

I was just out trying again, tried putting a chisel between the spanner and the fan to wedge it in place and stop it falling off, but that didn't work. I tried hammering on a metal drift placed on the edge of the nut in the direction I want it to move but I'm just denting the nut.

I think I'm officially giving up, hopefully I didn't make anything too bad and somebody with more experience can get this bugger to move. Now I just have to FIND that somebody here in Belgium.

Thanks for the tips!

- Andrew

Success!

I took a good look, and saw again that the problem was that the wrench was coming off the nut. I tried using a chisel to keep it in before, but took another shot.

I put the special wrench firmly and carefully on the nut, then hammered in two small chisels between the wrench and the fan about 120 degrees apart to keep the wrench firmly on the bolt (only tried one before). A few whacks of the hammer and it was loose!

Thanks to all who helped!

- Andrew

result.