firenexx
Active Member
- Joined
- May 29, 2010
- Messages
- 25
- Vehicle Year
- 1994
- Transmission
- Manual
Hey all, I may have a fan clutch issue. I have been scouring the internets reading about all sorts of fan clutch problems on various forums, but I figured I'd post my particular symptoms to make sure I'm not spending money on something that's not an issue.
I'm driving a '94 Mazda B4000 with 166k miles. 5 spd, w/ A/C (But I'm currently bypassing the compressor as it is broken, so no A/C.)
My engine takes a loooong time to warm up. The gauge is pretty much here:
C _^__________ H for a while. I can drive around town for a while or spend 5-10 minutes on the highway before it begins to creep up, and then verrryyy slowly. However, in stop-and-go or sometimes after being on the highway for longer (maybe half an hour or an hour, and especially in hot weather) it begins to overheat. It goes all the way up to the H sometimes, and generally will stay between the middle point and the H. I also see it fluctuate randomly.
I just idled it for about 10 minutes. The fan turned on full blast for the first few minutes as I guess it is supposed to. Afterwards it kinda slowed down and disengaged to the point where I could stop it with a wad of newspaper. I went outside again after about 10-15 mins and the engine had not warmed up to normal temp - it was only slightly above cold on the gauge. At this point I could not stop the fan with a wad of newspaper although it was still slightly slower than the hurricane winds it was putting out at startup.
I also notice about 1/4" to 1/2" of wobble when watching the blades.
I thought at first the temp sender could be bad but I noticed there was coolant coming through the overflow tube after I came off the highway once (after it had gotten pretty hot) so I know it is actually getting pretty hot like the gauge says.
As far as I can tell these are the symptoms of a messed up fan clutch. (Unfortunately I didn't think to check whether or not the fan was on on the highway when overheating. I am going to assume it was not, and I don't plan on doing any more highway driving until I get this fixed but I should probably check.) I recently replaced the thermostat. I haven't replaced either the temperature sensor or the temperature sender but I probably will just to be sure. Does this sound to y'all like it is the fan clutch or should I look elsewhere?
(There is a sufficient amount of coolant and it's been burped.)
I'm driving a '94 Mazda B4000 with 166k miles. 5 spd, w/ A/C (But I'm currently bypassing the compressor as it is broken, so no A/C.)
My engine takes a loooong time to warm up. The gauge is pretty much here:
C _^__________ H for a while. I can drive around town for a while or spend 5-10 minutes on the highway before it begins to creep up, and then verrryyy slowly. However, in stop-and-go or sometimes after being on the highway for longer (maybe half an hour or an hour, and especially in hot weather) it begins to overheat. It goes all the way up to the H sometimes, and generally will stay between the middle point and the H. I also see it fluctuate randomly.
I just idled it for about 10 minutes. The fan turned on full blast for the first few minutes as I guess it is supposed to. Afterwards it kinda slowed down and disengaged to the point where I could stop it with a wad of newspaper. I went outside again after about 10-15 mins and the engine had not warmed up to normal temp - it was only slightly above cold on the gauge. At this point I could not stop the fan with a wad of newspaper although it was still slightly slower than the hurricane winds it was putting out at startup.
I also notice about 1/4" to 1/2" of wobble when watching the blades.
I thought at first the temp sender could be bad but I noticed there was coolant coming through the overflow tube after I came off the highway once (after it had gotten pretty hot) so I know it is actually getting pretty hot like the gauge says.
As far as I can tell these are the symptoms of a messed up fan clutch. (Unfortunately I didn't think to check whether or not the fan was on on the highway when overheating. I am going to assume it was not, and I don't plan on doing any more highway driving until I get this fixed but I should probably check.) I recently replaced the thermostat. I haven't replaced either the temperature sensor or the temperature sender but I probably will just to be sure. Does this sound to y'all like it is the fan clutch or should I look elsewhere?
(There is a sufficient amount of coolant and it's been burped.)
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