Check those plastic fan blades!

[Bamamav]

Wife and I went to get supper the other night in her Expedition. Got about a mile from the house and all hell broke loose under the hood! First thought it was the fan belt slapping, no wasn't that. Had the whole engine rocking, so I thought maybe it had spit out a spark plug as some of the Ford 5.4's are known to do, no, not that either. Drove it on to the house slowly. Was looking around under the hood and noticed a busted place in the fan shroud, humm, that wasn't there before. Looked at the fan blade, it had chunked about four blades off! Threw it out of balance, hence the shake. Had to order a fan, got it Friday. Hardest thing was holding the pulley to break the stupid fan clutch nut loose. I despise those threaded on fan clutches! When I got the top 3/4 of the shroud off, noticed the bottom 1/4 was broken in two, so I just left it off.

Was lucky, we were going on a trip in it Saturday, would have been a mess had it let go then. It's an 05 model with 212,000 miles on it, so I guess I can't complain. Heat and age weakened it. Another good thing is the fan sits back about a foot from the radiator, so no damage there, either.

So, if you have a vehicle with a engine driven plastic fan with a lot of miles or age on it, you might want to inspect it closely. I never noticed any cracks on mine, but then again, I never really inspected it close. I went ahead and put on a new belt while I was in there. Lots easier with the fan and shroud out of the way.

 

[Old Iron]

That could have left ya stranded on the highway too.
A friend of mine has had two come apart on his Toyota pickup, one took out the radiator.

 

[26Troadster]

bobby i use a hammer and a steel bar to break the clutch nut loose and to tighten as well. the one on my truck has some kind of electrical connector on it and it sometimes sounds like a big truck cause it isn't slipping, next 200.00 plus dollars to be spent on it.

 

[Bamamav]

I used a piece of steel strap off an old plow and a 15” adjustable wrench with a 2’ cheater pipe. Was easy enough to break loose once I got the pulley held with the strap steel.

 

[kenny c]

To get the clutch off I have used an air chisel with a blunt bit to turn the nut. A year or so ago we had the remains of a hurricane and we lost the power at work. The town's Caterpillar diesel generator that runs the town hall and the highway garage lost most of the blades off the fan. It got so hot that it melted the front and rear main seals. After it ran out of anti freeze and oil the yellow Caterpillar paint on most of the engine was of a brownish color. It hasn't been fixed. My friend that is an automotive machinist says it is beyond repair.

 

[redidbull]

I think the big box auto stores loan the tool for removing the fans. You would think automakers would have learned their lesson with plastics when the used plastic/nylon for timing chain gears. Jim

 

[lazarat]

Thanks for that heads up, I have an '02 GMC shortbed with the 5.3. and 243K. About a year ago I was heading down the interstate and I heard a ping sound.

All was well until I got a mile from my house and suddenly all the warnings appeared...engine overheating etc. I got off and realized it was hard steering, thought I lost the serpent, but what happened was the tensioner pully flew off, the belt was riding on the bearing for about 20 miles before it seized.

Easy fix, but I will look at the fan blade, I also have the plastic flex fan on the 53.