Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hello again.
I have another issue: today I had a rattling sound from the engine bay.
I stopped and saw the cooling fan standing still while the engine was running. The rattling sound came from it's coupling, I think.
After moving the fan a few times and switching on the engine it moved again.
?
So do I guess correctly that my visco coupling for the fan most probably is giving up? Is that a part I will get / can order in reasonable time at the parts shop?

Thanks for your input!


Florian

That is a serious problem that must be fixed asap. From what you are saying, the viscous coupling has failed. I thought the viscous would lock up if it fails, but I see I was clearly wrong about that. the hotter the engine water temp is the tighter the coupling gets to allow the radiator fan to spin efficiently to draw air through the radiator. At high speed ( I'm guessing around 80Km/h ) there should be enough air forced through the radiator, but in traffic you will cook that motor.

Unfortunately the only place I know of, other than Nissan themselves, is a place in the Cape ( near Belville ). I'll have to hunt down the places name, but Elaine was the person I bought mine from when I was there last December.

The problem is that there are about 3 different viscous and fan combinations. I would suggest taking out the viscous and VERY accurately measure the PCD's of the 6 nuts that hold the fan blade on and the other coupling with the 4 bolts. You might as well measure almost everything you can and send the drawing to her to match up a replacement.

Their prices are reasonable and I'm sure they can assist you in getting it up to Hoedspruit.

Check here....

http://patrol4x4.co.za/viewtopic.php?f= ... ade#p29875

Elaine Pienaar the new owner of Auto Cooling Solutions , Tel 021 - 9827114

Hi ricster,

thanks a lot for your valuable advice!
Now the dumb question follows: how do I get the fan and coupling of? Do I have to remove the radiator for that?

hahahaha.... it is a bit of a bugga to get off. But leave the radiator in place.

I'm not sure on a 4.5 if the spacing is the same as on the 4.2 diesel like mine, but it can be done. The easiest way to do this is to remove the plastic shroud that goes around the fan. With this removed life will be a dream compared to trying to wiggle the viscous and fan out with it still in place.

With a 10 spanner hold the blades of the fan and loosen the 6 bolts holding the fan to the viscous. Remove the fan blade, and then with the 10 spanner loosen the 4 bolts on the steel coupling where the viscous fits onto the water pump.

Alternatively with a 10 spanner loosen the 4 bolts holding the viscous onto the water pump. Simply lift out the whole assembly. Then hold the fan in a vice ( as gently as possible unless you want to replace the fan blades too.... which I recommend as I only noticed that mine were looking a little tired after 14 years of spinning around in circles ), and loosen the 6 bolts holding the fan blades to the viscous.

Just be VERY careful that you don't damage the face of the radiator with the tips of the fan blades !!

Also once you have fitted the new viscous and fan, make sure when fitting the shroud back in place that the bolts that hold the bottom piece of the shroud onto the rest of the shroud are properly tight. If they work loose they may fall onto the spinning fan blade and puncture your radiator !!!!

The shroud is probably the most irritating part to get off, but if you don't take it off you have a 99.9% chance of damaging the radiator face with the blade tips !!

Phone Graham in Pretoria,he carries stock of those viscous coupling
012 651 3447
You don't have to take radiator out,but its much easier if you do

Flo if you battle with removing it ,give me a call.Will gladly assist telephonically

@Wilkie..... On the 4.5, do you have to take the radiator out? I think one may have have to remove the top radiator hose to allow the radiator shroud to slide up and out easier once the bottom strip of the shroud has been removed. One has to take out the shroud first anyway to get the radiator out without damaging the face of the radiator. once the shroud is out there is plenty space to work.

Good idea to give Graham a call to get the viscous from him.... closer than Cape Town....hahaha

Remember to loosen the four bolts holding the viscous to the water-pump before loosening and removing the fan belt, otherwise it is very difficult to prevent it from turning when you try to loosen the bolts.

Hi Ricster...the 4.5 has a bottom halve section of the radiator cowling which unclip,then you undo the two brackets and water hoses on the radiator and the complete radiator and cowling comes out
its then very easy to slacken v-belts and get to viscous etc. :