After a little research I discovered that it is not unusual to have a radiator fan self destruct.
So I took a look…yep, the fan was missing multiple blades.
After some more research I found a replacement fan for about $20 OR a combo of the fan and the clutch assembly for about $50. We I figured we’d need to remove the clutch to get the fan, I thought it would be smart to replace that part while at it.
I found a good video on how to remove the fan/clutch.
On my car there is an undercarriage plastic protector thing that needed to be removed as going down with the fan is the only option.
So, taking the fan off was easy.
It would be smart to make note of the exact clutch fan assembly before removing the screws which old them together (3 screws).
Either way, remember the flat side of the fan goes toward the engine.
Look at the fan from the top and you’ll see what I mean.
The challenge was getting the fan back in the way we got it out.
When we took it out, the fan was missing about 4 blades.
Putting it back it had all the blades and I wanted to be careful. After screwing around with a few different ways we discovered if you man-handle the fan you can get it back in there.
Next challenge is to get the thing threaded up again. Challenging because of the angles and lack of space.
Again, stay with because it is do-able.
The picture below has to arrows: the arrow on the right is pointing to the fan/clutch assembly and the arrow on the right pointing to the garage floor after I removed the plastic protector thing.
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