Viscous Fan

I was checking over some its n bits and inadvertently managed to stop the viscous fan with my elbow! Problem was I never even felt it so I am presuming it's fooked? With the engine running I can even spin it in the opposite direction!!!

So what would you do?

Replace or just remove?

Cheers...

Technically it's not the fan it's the viscous unit but, whatever,

replace.

Replace the viscous unit
Having no fan sounds like a bad idea

They are not cheap.

but you need it, perhaps not at this time of year but you will.

gives you you time to find one.

J

marjon said:

They are not cheap.

but you need it, perhaps not at this time of year but you will.

gives you you time to find one.

J

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I'm going to say this very quietly
but on my D1 I removed it and replaced it with an electric one, switched from the cab. Only had to switch it on two or three times, in heavy traffic in the southwest of France in the summer.
but then i do have aircon and of course its fans work.
and in the winter you don't really need a fan.
Now I'll put my flak-jacket on.

Anyone up for bolting the viscous unit through to make it spin all the time, like old skool fans used to?
I have seen stuff elsewhere on how to do it with straps of metal etc.
Not difficult and v. cheap.
Would prolly slow down warm up though.

Stanleysteamer said:

I'm going to say this very quietly
but on my D1 I removed it and replaced it with an electric one, switched from the cab. Only had to switch it on two or three times, in heavy traffic in the southwest of France in the summer.
but then i do have aircon and of course its fans work.
and in the winter you don't really need a fan.
Now I'll put my flak-jacket on.

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My 6.3 runs electric fan, my RX ran variable waterpump and electric fans, No need for jacket as far as I am concerned

But OP should get it sorted before temps warm up.

J

marjon said:

My 6.3 runs electric fan, my RX ran variable waterpump and electric fans, No need for jacket as far as I am concerned

But OP should get it sorted before temps warm up.

J

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Any sort of engine turned fan is a bit old skool reely nowadays.
Anything with a transverse engine frinstance.
Cept the old style mini!

Would it make a difference if the engine was cold and you had a big coat on (so you didn't feel it)?
Since it shouldn't spin much when cold anyway.

@Dhammadad ... What year Disco and engine do you have that needs the viscous fan?

JUKE179r said:

@Dhammadad ... What year Disco and engine do you have that needs the viscous fan?

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2001 TD5 Auto....

Doesn't matter it's old skool, it works. Well.
When you start from cold, the viscous unit should be very stiff and make the fan roar, you won't stop it.
The viscous unit doesn't ever lock up completely, the fan isn't designed to run at full engine speed, locking it up would be a bad thing

Dhammadad said:

2001 TD5 Auto....

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Then be cautios with it and fit a new viscous fan ASAP if you can stop it when the radiator is hot, those who say that it doesnt need one are maybe relying on the factory temp gauge as they think if it stays at the middle it's OK while it's not quite so. The needle goes to the middle at 70*C and stays there up to 119 cos it goes to the red zone only at 120*C so you can drive it much at 110*C without knowing it if you dont have additional gauge which shows the real temp... and that's not healthy on a long run

I'll check again as I think the engine was hot. But either way I could have stopped it with a fag without it breaking and if I flicked it, it easily span in the opposite direction!!!

I can only see after market ones on Bearmach and JS4x4 are they ok? Only about £40 to £100

Definitely sounds dead to me

Dhammadad said:

I'll check again as I think the engine was hot. But either way I could have stopped it with a fag without it breaking and if I flicked it, it easily span in the opposite direction!!!

I can only see after market ones on Bearmach and JS4x4 are they ok? Only about £40 to £100

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Its dead.
Get a second hand one.

My experiences with removing viscous fans are as follows, if the car has a/c and/or is an auto dont do it!

As said above dash gauge aint accurate enough, td5 heads are expensive.

If it's aftermarket make sure it's branded by the manufacturer not with the supplier's name cos cheap ones can loose the blades while running and ruin the radiator or other things there. Better bite the bullet and buy a good one e.g. like this https://www.firstfour.co.uk/product/td5-defender-and-discovery-2-td5-viscous-fan-2/

The fan should spin at full speed for a short time when cold until the viscous fluid returns to the reservoir, it should then slow down until the engine is hot. ^^^^^what they said, it's broked

Thanks....just booked it in for a good once over with my local Landy Guru....thats all he does and has over the last 30 years - so in good hands!

backinblack said:

The fan should spin at full speed for a short time when cold until the viscous fluid returns to the reservoir, it should then slow down until the engine is hot. ^^^^^what they said, it's broked

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Glad you said that! After reading post #12 I thought I was going mad!
Putting it simply when the engine is cold and needs to warm up, the last thing you need is a fan sucking cold air through the rad. So it basically freewheels.
Once warm there are times when you do need to cool the coolant, primarily when stationary or moving slowly, and then the viscous fluid "stiffens up" the whole unit so the fan turns not quite at engine speed but enough to suck air through the rad.
If you don't wan to spend the money on a viscous unit, look into getting an electric fan and a thermostatically operated switch which you connect to the rad.
no idea if it would be cheaper or not.