Disco 1 V8i - Are all the viscous fans the same??

My viscous could probably do with replacing as the disco sounds like a light aircraft most of the time, are all the discovery viscous units the same or do i need one specificly for my D1 V8i??

/\ Also.... Any one got one for sale??

Yes you do and there are two.
ETC1260, 11 blade fan.
ERR3443, 7 blade fan.

Just took one to the scrappy for disco 1 v8, took the whole car actually minus the engine and running gear,

Take it off and put a kenlow on, much better!!!

sible88 said:

Take it off and put a kenlow on, much better!!!

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Not on a V8, it needs all the cooling it can get from two minutes of starting the engine.

mine takes about 10 mins to warm up, is this normal too? temp never seems to move once warm tho

matty_daak said:

mine takes about 10 mins to warm up, is this normal too? temp never seems to move once warm tho

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When you have a fully functional viscous you should hear the noise/tone of the fan change after around one or two minutes a sign that the engine is starting to warm up and the viscous coupling is engaging, the gauge will start to move when the thermostate starts to open.
If your engine coolent didn't start to warm up soon you would be running with an enriched mixture (cold start) which wouldn't be good.

My disco needs just a mile or three minutes ticking over to feel heat from the heater vents on a cold morning and then another mile for the heater to be hot

10 minutes is around three miles for me i'm in a 30mph zone, that would mean a hot engine and up to full temperature so thats seems ok to me.

i run a 3.5 v8 with twin 12" fans and an HD rad and it now copes just nicely, even when beating itself up in a sweaty off road situation in the summer.

they are a bugger for getting hot though, mine was overheating in the warmest summer months so i upgraded to an HD radiator.

tbh the viscous fan is a better option if you dont do heavy offroading cos its fit and forget.

if it hasnt had a new viscous unit recently though, the chances are its knackered, and worth replacing, cos they are only a minimal cost.

cheers, sam

my disco is a muddy weekend toy, so i'll probably stick to the viscous unit, you cant hear the fan all the time but it seems to be sticking occasionally thats when is sounds like its gonna take off!

I also have a nissan 300zx that had the same or similar problem, although that one jammed up completely and end up cracking one of the fan blades... eeek!

The "basic test" of the viscous is to try and spin/turn the fan when cold, you should be able too, and when it's hot it should be very hard to turn.

A viscous coupling fan will ALWAYS be shifting quite a lot of air into (and then out of) the engine bay when the engine is running. This is good.

When the fan coupling is COLD the coupling will slip, but it will still drive the fan, though much more slowly than the engine is trying to turn it. Once the coupling starts to heat up, it will progessively more or less lock up, at which stage it will shift a LOT of air into the engine bay, and start to get quite loud. Reducing engine NOISE is probably the number one reason for fitting a viscous coupling fan.

Do not underestimate how much HEAT is dissipated directly from the cylinder block and head(s). The viscous fan is set up to make best use of this feature, AND to stop the engine bay (and all the stuff that's in it) from getting too hot. The first time you see an ORANGE hot turbo, you'll put the viscous fan back on.

The single big advantage a leccy fan offers is to keep running AFTER THE ENGINE HAS STOPPED, thus cooling the engine bay properly.

I run my Disco TD5 with the original viscous coupling fan ON all the summer months, and take it off in the winter. I bought a leccy fan kit but I never saw the point, so it's still in the box. Does anyone want one?

CharlesY