Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

I can't find the cfm rating of the mitsu unit but found this informative site

http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoElectricFan.htm

Baie dankie ! Will read it ASAP.


Waldo Fourie

Hi Guys,
I tried the electric fan thing and threw it off at the first oppertunity. Reason being I had plenty problems with heat and the elctrical system with switches and relays getting stuck and not switching off and all sorts.
My advice- keep to the original setup. Will save you headaches later.

4ePikanini wrote:if the viscous is blowing all the time it may have leaked the fluid inside or the mechanism seized. It should blow hard on cold start and then go quiet after about 30 seconds or so and then blow hard again when the engine is working hard.

Having a faulty viscous that blows hard all the time is bad for fuel consumption and the extra stress on the fins may fatigue the plastic and cause them to fail, punching holes in the radiator. Viscous fans are designed to spin at a maximum rpm so if you lock the clutch to the fan it will exceed this rpm and eventually fail.

There is nothing better for your cooling system than a proper working viscous fan!

How do you determine for sure the viscous is not working properly(suspect mine is , never changes speed from start up)?
If fluid was lost how much do you replace(think Henk mentioned some alternative replacement for fluid)?

My temp is very constant at the moment but same also true for a bit heavy consumption (6km/l). I do suspect if my viscous is faulty and I fix it, it might reveal other hidden/sleeping heat related issues.

remove the clutch fan assembly and split it into clutch and fan. Place the clutch in luke warm water for a few minutes. The movement should feel very loose.

Now place it in boiling water for a minute - the movement should now feel very stiff.

Majority of the time you will just get away with a non working viscous but while towing or long slow uphills on hot days or offroad work will show the engine getting too hot.

If in doubt just replace it - I tried the refill route and failed to get it working satisfactory. They are usually found at less than a R1000 and provide cheap insurance against a ruined engine.

I posted the inside of my viscous clutch here

http://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/sho ... hp?t=13018

We must keep it in mind that the fan will only pull or push the air through the radiator when you are driving less than about 30km/h. At any speed higher than about 30 km/h the air is moving faster through the radiator (because of the speed that you are traveling) than the fan can push or pull it.

Waldo Fourie

Thanx Marius. Regarding above I have something in my head that wind /airflow only starts cooling engine if car travels at 80km/h or more.
So electric fan should then mostly only kick in for overheating and in slow traffic (getting reading from water temp).
Does the same apply for the viscous or will there always be some degree of cooling from a viscous because it gets the temp reading from the heat eminating from the radiator?

Cobvs wrote: Does the same apply for the viscous or will there always be some degree of cooling from a viscous because it gets the temp reading from the heat eminating from the radiator?

Electric kicks in via sensor from coolant temp.

Viscous kicks in via heat on the bi-metal strip.

A failed electric fan gives no cooling. A failed viscous clutch still gives some cooling.

I an no fundi on the viscious issue but must agree. You can still travel far if the viscious is faulty.
That is why I removed the electrical scrap i had on. R1800 lost in the process but lesson learned well!!!!

Hi

Could not access the link from work regarding the viscous inside so I opened mine. I assume the plate in the middle of the hole gets pushed inwards, releasing fluid that locks the outer fan circle into motion. Mine was full of the sticky goo fluid and turned with difficulty. Suppose spinning motion will force fluid back to cavity behind plate in middle via channels when plate is closed. Just seems to me that there is always some fluid in my clutch whic is why it always turns/engaged. Might be shaft going into clutch - is this running in a bearing, can bearing be replaced?