John,
my question, how do you check to see if a clutch fan is bad?
Some people will cringe when I tell you this method, but it does work very
effectively. An old-time mechanic from the Missoura Ozarks taught me this at
Howard-Willey Oldsmobile-Chevrolet. Yes, he was a real shade-tree mechanic,
and one of the *best* mechanics I ever met. His name was Homer Yount.
If a fan clutch is bad, it won't pull air at low engine speeds. With the
engine at idle, the human eye will *not* pick up the fact the fan blade is
turning slower than normal. There will be just enough clutch drag to spin
the fan blade. So, since the fan blade is really coasting, take a piece of
cardboard about 6-8" wide and 2 feet long, and stick it into the fan blade
while the engine is at idle. Yeah, that might sound dangerous, but if the
fan clutch is good, the fan blade will just chew up the cardboard and not
stop. One will notice that real quick and pull the cardboard out, fast. But,
if the fan clutch is bad, the cardboard will ***stop*** the fan blade, dead
in the water. The first time Homer showed that to me, I just about died.
Then, since he had just proved the fan clutch was bad, he grinned at me and
stuck his hand into the fan blade and grabbed a blade, stopping the fan with
his hand. That made the point, perfectly. The fan clutch was bad, period.
Ever since then, I've always checked the condition of fan clutches with a
piece of cardboard. It's worked perfectly every time.
But, I will ***never*** just use my hand. I'm not that brave.
Milton Schick
1964 442 Cutlass
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
