Got Hot!

[Disposition]

Ok here is what happened. Everyday about 5-10 minutes before I leave work I go out and start my car so it will be warmed up enough to pull out into traffic.

Last night it got down to 26 degrees here and today was really cold, so I decided to go out 15 minutes early.

I cranked it, put the club on, locked it and went back inside to finish work.

When I came out 15 minutes later there was steam pouring from underneath the front of the car. I hopped in and saw that the thermostat was pegged over to the right.

I turned it off. It smelled pretty bad.

I popped the hood and found that the fan had somehow wedged itself against the bottom of the top lip of the radiator. It had sat there like that for I don't know how long. I know it didn't overheat on the way to work this morning. I got the plastic fan un-jammed. I noticed also that there was quite a bit of water on the ground. When it was on I could see that it was comming out of the overflow tube on the radiator.

I let it cool down for quite a while and decided to try and crank it.

The first thing I noticed it seemed as though the clutch was barely there. Doesn't seem to me in my limited knowlege that this could be connected. But the pedal was really soft. Maybe I was just freaked out and it just seemed that way. Whatever. So when I try and crank it it turns but won't start and acts like the battery is dying. I asked a co-worker and he said the fan wasn't moving.

So I pushed it into our wharehouse.

My question: Where should I start my investigation? Is this something I might fix on my own, or is this a job for a mechanic to rob me blind on.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[sblake01]

Sounds like you fan clutch died. I don't know if you ran it long enough like that to cause damage to the head gasket or water pump but that would explain the fan wedging against the bottom of the radiator. As far as the slow cranking, I don't think the car had cooled enough or maybe the fan moved again as you were cranking it over. Your co-worker said it wasn't moving. Hopefully, if the fan clutch went out, all you have to do is replace it, refill the cooling system and you should be okay. Did the fan damage your radiator? Grab the fan and see if you can move it back and forth, if so the fan clutch is toast.

[Disposition]

Thanks for the reply.

I have the white plastic fan. One of the blades were actually jammed into the radiator lip. I still have no idea how the fan got close enough to the radiator to hit it and then get stuck. And yes I was able to spin the fan around by hand.

[sblake01]

I guess I should have said if you can move the fan back and forth towards the radiator and towards the engine then the fan clucth in defective.

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by sblake01

I guess I should have said if you can move the fan back and forth towards the radiator and towards the engine then the fan clucth in defective.

Could also be the water pump shaft bearing that failed.

Fifteen minutes, and the temp guage pegged is NOT a good sign. No way to tell over the internet, but there *could be* serious damage to the head gasket, etc. That is LONG time for excess heat to exist in the engine. Normal warm up with a properly operating thermostat is about 5 minutes or less. That leaves 10 minutes of temps rising out of the normal operating range. With a bit of investigating (as Stephen described wiggling the fan assembly and visual check) you should be able to determine the area of failure that allowed the fan to move out of position. Resolve that matter and *briefly* try to start and run the engine, If it doesn't sound right or look to be running properly, STOP.

As to fixing this on your own, well; that depends on how much time and skill you have and the extent of the damage.

[frank13]

I agree with Carl. Sounds like the waterpump shaft walked. Waterpump failure. Bearing went south, shaft/fanblade wlaked far enough to hit the radiator. Is there any Back and forth play to the shaft? Side to side? either is not good. If indeed the water pump is bad you could try to swap it out if you have basic hand tools. 10mm socket/wrench. 12, 13, 14mm sockets. Big screwdriver. Not too hard. But then there is the ? of head warpage. If the water pump did go south you could pull it of, after draining what ever coolant remains in the engine and give it a compression test. If any cylinders are more than 20 percent lower than the rest or two have equally low readings you have a blown Head Gasket. Most of the time from my experience 5 & 6 go bye bye. Good luck. Also check your thermostat! :devious:

[Ed]

Not saying that this happened to you but, (I hate but's) One time I overheated, didn't notice it for about 5 minutes. Pulled over and had a heater hose blow. Let it cool, fixed it, and filled it back up. No problems for about a week then it slowly went down hill from there. It started to Idle bad and would always blow coolant out the overflow. Yup you guessed it. Blown head gasket between 3&4. Warped the head. Hopefully you just have a bad water pump.

You mentioned that the fan was wedged against the top lip of the radiator. I was thinking that maybe your radiator came loose and fell against the fan?

Let us know what you find.

[Daniel]

Also keep in mind the fan belt either burnt or streached. Check status and tention. I have seen the plastic fans just crack loose due to age when all else was good. Hey,I think I just coined a new saying---we will call it ----PLASTIC ROT!-Seems kinda correct huh?

[Disposition]

My dad, who builds race cars in his spare time, agreed to me me at work this morning to take a look at the car. Here is what we found.

The first thing I checked was to see if the fan had any play in it. It didn't. One of the blades had just got wedged in the lip of the radiator. We trimmed the corner off of that blade and off of another one that was really close to hitting too. All of the blades come within an 1/8 of an inch of touching. It has been this way since I have owned it, but I never thought it could cause a problem. This proximity issue may be due to the fact that the car is a 72 and the motor is a 73. Just a guess.

Anyway, after we trimmed the fan down, we added radiator fluid and water. Checked the oil, still no water in it. Got in and she cranked right up.

Let her run for a bit, without incident.

I mentioned last night that the clutch was acting weird.

I checked my clutch fluid to find it almost empty. We refilled the resovoir and bled it.

I am going to call MotorSport and Chloee and see if I can get my hands on a new fan. I am worried that the trimmed edges could throw it off ballance and wear the bearings out.

I still don't know why that fan sits so close. The water pump housing seems overly long. Anyone know a good way to correct this?

Anyway, I am going to keep checking the water and the oil for a few days. I know I am not completely out of the woods yet, but I feel much better now. Man I couldn't sleep last night. I was sick.

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Here are some pics...

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You can see how close the fan is....any thoughts?

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Trimmed...