fan shattered - so damn lucky....

[Serious One]

3 hours out of Vegas yesterday and one of the fan blades decides it's had it with the other 10 and wants to leave town. Fortunately it took one of the few narrow paths out of town that wouldn't harm the radiator, belts, upper or lower hose, went out at about 2 o'clock straight through the shroud bouncing off of the hood liner ending up sitting next to the distributor. Not far of a move, but he had to want to get there.

Polla (wife) is driving, had downshifted to pass a semi heading up a long incline, and we heard it bang against the hood. She immidiately slowed down and we felt a vibration that hadn't been there before. I was curious and wanted to see what it was feeling like, she was panicking and wanted to pull over immidiately. We pulled over. Funny thing si we thought decided that if I hadn't put in the 3:54 gears and left in the 4:11's that she wouldn't have needed to downshift. Oh well...it was only a matter of time.

Popped the hood and saw the fan blade sitting there. Looked for the inevitable damage and much to my relief saw that there was only a hole punched in the shroud. Said a silent prayer...

So, we started it up again while I watched to see what would happen. At about 2500 rpms the vibration started but by about 3000rpm it was in full force.

I decided to shut down the engine and break off the blade opposite the one that did so on it's own. It was actually kind of a bugger to bust off, but it did after a few tries.

Started it up again, fan noise was louder but the vibration was gone. Kids peed in the bushes and we were off.

Decided that we should cut our losses and head back to Vegas. I'm glad we did because upon further inspection this morning after removing the fan there are several MAJOR breaks and cracks on the fan and who knows how much longer it would have lasted. We had a 1200 mile road trip planned for the weekend, I wasn't going to push it.

Is there an aftermarket fan that will bolt in place of the stock fan? I'm heading down to AutoZone to see if they have anything, but thought I'd throw it out here.

Thanks! (check your fans....)

[64rovr]

is it the "white" fan? if so then those are known to crack and i believe that there is a recall on them.

no suggestions for a auto zone replacement, just an FYI.

[Serious One]

Yeah, went to AutoZone. Nothing even comes close.

Tell me more about the recall. Is this something I can walk into the dealer with and get a new fan? Yeah, it's the older white style, the newer ones are more yellow/cream.

[PTSchram]

NEWBIE!

SEARCH

Mike:
Had you searched, you would have found my posting on the same subject last week!

Here is the deal. The white ones do disintegrate after a while, but the recall is apparently an urban legend. None of my parts suppliers show a superceded part and they only list the one part number, ETC 1275 (read off a white replacement fan, received yesterday).

Sorry to bust your balls, but you were an easy target. Just think of me as having my Ike hat on .

On the other hand, since you hit the lottery, it would have been a good day to take up Baccarat! I have heard many horror stories of disintegrating fans and the ensuing carnage.

Peace,
Paul

[redrangie]

Originally posted by PTSchram
NEWBIE!

SEARCH


Here is the deal. The white ones do disintegrate after a while, but the recall is apparently an urban legend. None of my parts suppliers show a superceded part and they only list the one part number, ETC 1275 (read off a white replacement fan, received yesterday).

Well, there was never a recall. There WAS a TSB (technical service bulletin).

Originally posted by Serious One
Yeah, went to AutoZone. Nothing even comes close.

Tell me more about the recall. Is this something I can walk into the dealer with and get a new fan? Yeah, it's the older white style, the newer ones are more yellow/cream.

ARE you FAWKING BLIND?

I don't remember the part number, but it is an 18" flex fan. Supposed to save 5hp or some shiat. You have to mount it BEHIND the viscous. Works great.


Proof:

[PTSchram]

Red:
I haven't been able to find one either. The flunkies at the counter always want to know what the part is for and then look at me dumbfounded.

Peace,
Paul

[redrangie]

Here's what you do:

Remove viscous.

Take viscous with you to autozone.

Go to the isle with the fans.

Try different fans with viscous for bolt pattern match.

Pay for fan.

Take fan home.

Install.

[PTSchram]

None of the fans inn the many shops I have been in to have a fan with a large enough center hole to accomodate the viscous.

I took the fan in instead

Peace,
Paul

[redrangie]

Hell I can't remember if I had to modify the center or not. It was 4 years ago....

I'll go and look, but I don't think I did.

j

[Serious One]

ok, so I get razzed on by you guys for not searching and not getting the right fan.

I did search (wrong keywords I guess???), and I DID take the fan to Autozone. They didn't have squat. I also took the viscous.

Maybe if you gave me a PART NUMBER instead of some SHIAT I could go down and solve my little dilemma.

I'll go back, don't get me wrong, the LR part is quite expensive and if I can do the metal fan like you did it's much slicker and cheaper I'm sure.

Thanks for the SHIAT, and I'll say thanks again when you give me a part number.

[PTSchram]

Originally posted by PTSchram
NEWBIE!

SEARCH

Mike:
Had you searched, you would have found my posting on the same subject last week!

Here is the deal. The white ones do disintegrate after a while, but the recall is apparently an urban legend. None of my parts suppliers show a superceded part and they only list the one part number, ETC 1275 (read off a white replacement fan, received yesterday).

Sorry to bust your balls, but you were an easy target. Just think of me as having my Ike hat on .

On the other hand, since you hit the lottery, it would have been a good day to take up Baccarat! I have heard many horror stories of disintegrating fans and the ensuing carnage.

Peace,
Paul

Mike:
If you will kindly refer to the above quotation, you will see where I politely provided you with the genuine Land Rover part number.... Before you even requested it... Call 1-502-8Rovers and ask Cindy or Nathan I sent you and for them to ship you the above referenced part number... (added after reading your whiny post ) The OEM LR part shouldn't cost you more than about $50.

Such an easy target.

How was the Baccarat pit?

Peace,
Paul

[Serious One]

oh no, I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about RR holding out on his secret fan part number.

Polla and I talked about hitting the slots on the way back through Mesquite. We figured that since the fan blade left the fan at such a miraculous angle, that all we would do would be lose at any gambling we did. We'd used up all our good luck for the day.

[Serious One]

Well I'll be a son of a bitch!

I found the 'mysterious' fan that RR was speaking of. Turns out it's not that hard to find after all.

AutoZone. 24 bucks. In and out and I'm smiling like a clam (or something like that).

Thanks for the tip RR!!!

EDIT: So...now that I've thought about it for a few hours I have a few things to add that I forgot. There was absolutely NO modification necessary to the fan. This is truly one of those aftermarket 'finds' that needs nothing to make it work. Amazing.

For $24.99 you can virtually eliminate any risk associated with your fan blowing apart, and honestly, I can't see any reason why any truck with more than 150K on it wouldn't need one of these. Even IF there were NO visible cracks, wouldn't you rather have peace of mind that there's no way it can explode potentially damaging HUNDREDS of dollars worth of components.

Took it for a test drive for about 40 minutes and have a few things to say about that. Noise at idle is increased. I am going to say that the increased noise is because the fan is actually moving more air. The increase is slightly noticable, but it is there. It goes away after the engine has warmed up and you are going faster than 45-ish mph. It is NOT something to dissuade you from doing the fan change.

I do notice the truck is running a little cooler actually, w/out an actual guage it is hard to accurately substantiate, but with temps near 85-90 this afternoon/evening I did notice the needle sitting a little lower than it normally does. Time will tell (and an actual guage too).

I'm leaving the stock fan on LWB #2 for now (fan looks perfect, no hairline cracks), and see how the two behave as it starts to get around 100deg f. this week.

Anyway, that's my fan-evangelism for the day.

[JSBriggs]

I need to get on of those! Thanks for doing the leg work, and taking the riddicule. Now to repay you for your troubles, Email me a pick of your stucco woes, and Ill see if 'my stucco guy' has some quick over the internet type fix for you.

-Jeff

[redrangie]

Is this the part where I'm humble and quiet in the background, or the part where I say "I told you!"?



j

[Serious One]

Originally posted by redrangie
Is this the part where I'm humble and quiet in the background, or the part where I say "I told you!"?



j

Yeah.

[DieLucas!]

So because that fan-blade isn't a Land Rover part, is your Range Rover no longer a Land Rover

[JSBriggs]

I think the whole Land Rover/Not a Land Rover debate should be based solely on the inclusion (or exclusion) of Lucas components. Without the Lucas components, and the 'fun' they offer, it truley isn't a Land Rover.

-Jeff

[redrangie]

Originally posted by DieLucas!
So because that fan-blade isn't a Land Rover part, is your Range Rover no longer a Land Rover

[DieLucas!]

GOOD GRIEF...it was a fawkin' joke!

[FAL]

Michael,

Thanks for the tip.
I picked up 2 of them, just to be on the safe side.

Regards,
fredd

[UPOVR]

Had my fan blow apart a few years ago. Same thing happened to me through it in passing gear and boom! I Almost had to clean out my pants. Heard the noise and looked at the hood from inside the car and noticed a nice sized pimple on the hood. I thought, "Oh great, I just through a push rod!" I was actually relieved when I discovered it was only the fan!