M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => Engine + Driveline => Topic started by: AcSchnitzer318is on October 14, 2008, 06:36:58 PM
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Today was supposed to be a nice day... install my electric fan and delete my parasitic one and the aux fan. Well... I've been fighting this friggin fan clutch for the last 3 hours... I'm done. I guess I'll have to take it to my local shop to have them remove my fan clutch for me with a pulley holder.
My 32mm wrench coupled with a few hard wallops did absolutely nothing but frustrate me. Then I tried the old screwdriver trick and proceeded to shatter 2 fairly good sized screwdrivers and puncture my upper radiator hose.
This has got to be the STUPIDEST design I have ever seen. There should be a place where you can put a bolt through the pulley and into the block or something to hold it. LOL it really made me miss my e46's electric fan. Sorry guys just had to rant... I read everyone elses success stories and I just got so pissed that mien is being such a PITA... lol you know how it goes :)
If you guys have any suggestions I'm open to trying them before I take it to my local indy.
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Were you turning it the correct direction? Lefty tighty, righty loosy. Its a reverse thread. Mine was very easy to take off with a spanner. Maybe also try some liquid wrench. It is a retarded design. Most things on BMWs are. Thats we love them so.
EDIT: PM send. Good luck.
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That sucks man i am doing the same thing taking off the clutch fan to install a electric fan.
I read all these horror storys about trying to take them off so when that came up i was ready for the worse but in my amazement it came of super easy must have been not put on tight .
All well, i have seen some one cut it off before with a saw but that is a last try kind of deal. Good luck man.
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Were you turning it the correct direction? Lefty tighty, righty loosy. Its a reverse thread.
EDIT: PM send. Good luck.
+1 i had the same problem until i went the right way and it came off easily.. even after being hit at 30mph
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If you are standing in front of the engine bay looking at it, I was turning clockwise... or righty. I know it's reverse threaded but mine still would not come off. Damn pulley just kept rotating, except when I had the screwdrivers in there. LOL then it snapped the screwdrivers... I've done this on a couple of e36's and one eta so I wasn't anticipating a difficult time. BOY was I wrong!!!
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Ok do this, put the 32mm wrench onto the fan clutch, then get a rubber mallet a hit the wrench a few times. Also spray some WD-40 or CRC. If hitting it doesn't work, then you may need to get water pump pulley holder tool.
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Its much easier to remove if you leave the belt tight. You can use some vise grips to hold the pulley against the belt and then hit the wrench as hard as you need to.
Works like a charm for me...
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Where are you? I have the pulley holder.
If you are standing in front of the engine bay looking at it, I was turning clockwise... or righty. I know it's reverse threaded but mine still would not come off. Damn pulley just kept rotating, except when I had the screwdrivers in there. LOL then it snapped the screwdrivers... I've done this on a couple of e36's and one eta so I wasn't anticipating a difficult time. BOY was I wrong!!!
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You don't need a pulley holder. Ppl make this job a lot harder than it is. The nut is REVERSE threaded. All you need in your 32mm wrench and a bfh or just a hammer heavier than a nail hammer. Standing in the front of your car put the 32mm wrench on your fan clutch at the 1:00 position! It only takes 2 or 3 good down and to the right hits to take off the tightest clutches...
This only works if you still have your belts on the pulley. But this is much easier than using a pulley holder or any other way that I've seen ppl try to use.
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I just took mine off, grab by open end wrench, don't have metric but have closes in standard size. 2 small whacks at 10 o'clock position while standing on passenger side and hitting towards drivers side with my hand and it came loose.
AcSch...go give it another try.
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LOL... I'm afraid if I try it again I will get very pissed off. I tried the wrench at all kinds of positions and hitting it. Tried tightening the belt and all that good stuff. I was going the right way correct? If you are facing the engine... you turn clockwise right? Just want to be sure....
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well depends, you can face the engine 4 ways, but if you mean from the front of the car, then yes, clockwise.
I also did it after the car was a little warm so that the clutch has a littel resistance from the oil. Then I have to time it right, but if you hold the fan blade and move it counter-clockwise, it might give you extra help.
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I have used a short 2" x 4" block of wood to hit the wrench as hard as you can. Put a bunch of towels to catch the wrench after you hit it. Slow steady pressure doesn't cut it here. Smack the snot out of it!
I have threatened ( but not yet accomplished) to stand on the engine holding my 2 X 4 with my best Tiger Wood's impression on the first Tee! Swing like your going for a 400 yard drive!
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^ if you try this golf swing, make sure to YouTube it.
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^LOL...
I have removed the fan clutches from 2 e36's and an e39 (same motor I know) and had no problem. Well, I ended up having to take to my local indy shop where they have the pulley holder tool. I was turning the correct way. He also had a hard time getting it off so I felt better. He first tried just hitting the 32mm with the mallet like I was doing and he actually had to use the pulley holder. Still took him a couple tries even with it... like I said, I felt better :)
On a side note... man the car drives better without that 15lb aux fan hanging on the nose and without the 10lb clutch/fan on the front of the engine. New electric fan (10lbs) going on as soon as I get a chance. Doesn't overheat right now if I am moving and if I turn on the heater it will idle at the half mark like normal as well. Of course it was only 79 degrees today...
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good to hear. Right now I am doing the same thing and feel the same, except I have my Spal in place of the aux already. With fan on at low, since AC is on, temp is the same as with the fan clutch, never getting past noon on gauge. I still havent really been stuck in traffic either for that long and dont think that will happen unless its an accident on the highway. As for with ac off, fan hasnt kicked on, that I could tell, damm fan is to quiet, and only was in stop and go traffic for a small time. While moving needle does not get to noon on gauge, but when stopped it does climb but just past the noon mark so far. Will keep monitoring it. If anything, will get the lower temp switch to have the fan turn on sooner. I do have the shroud installed.
good luck.
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where do you get the fans from? and what about the wireing?
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I got mine from ebay, but same state as Spal, I believe Iowa, so it might be them or a nearby distributor. They carry all models and they are new. Cheapest price on internet, searched for a week and save $30. Since mine went where the original aux fan was, just used the original wiring, had to splide and kept the resistor for 2 speed.
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^I used a volvo fan... but am not having any luck getting it to turn on with the new lower temp aux fan switch. It never turned on with the other switch either. Only way I am getting it to turn on is with the AC button.
I can't figure it out. Tried jumping the wires on the 3 prong harness to the switch, but no luck. I think I may have wired the 3 wires at the fan incorrectly... is that a possibility? Don't hear a relay click or anything while jumping. When I do use the AC switch and probe the 3 prong harness, I get 1 positive on the black wire and the other 2 are negatives? I thought it should be one ground on the black wire and the other two are positives? Checked for power at the fuses and when the fan is switched on via the AC both aux fan fuses have power. When I remove the low speed fuse the fan turns off. When I remove the hi speed fuse nothing happens. I swapped the hi and low speed relays to see if that had any effect... but none. Any help greatly appreciated.
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Well since the fan turns on with the AC, you have the low speed resistor working fine. Also your low speed relay is ok. But I am not sure on how the Volvo wiring is done. Do you use the low speed resistor with the Volvo fan?
You might have a faulty switch, which they do go bad. But if you bypass the switch and jump the 3-prong adapter, it should work on both. If it doesn't you need to check your wiring. I know the wiring when it comes to the BMW resistor. Not sure how the Volvo is. The the fan should have power and ground. But if you use the bmw resistor, you will have 2 power + ground. One lead of power goes straight to fan motor which is combined with the outport of the resitor. And the other power lead goes to the input of the resistor. I say input and output, but believe it doesnt matter as it is just a resistor. The trick would be the lead from the AC button/ low speed side of the switch goes together and the high speed just comes from the high speed side of the switch. I used the ETM to double check my wiring.
Right now mine is not coming on with AC button and I already changed resistor again with a new one. So I need to check fuse and relay. Also could be wiring.
let me know as I can try to help out.
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^Thanks for the info. The thermoswitch is a new 318ti lower tmep one... so I don't believe that is the issue. I checked my 3 pin harness at the thermowitch and the damn thing nearly fell apart in my hands after I took apart the connector. With the 3 separate leads exposed, I was able to get both hi and low speeds working on the fan. Soooo... I'm guessing I need to get a new harness to plug into the thermoswitch. For now I am going to kind of ghetto rig a temp solution. Problem I see, is that any harness plug I'd find in a junkyward will most likely have the same problem mine did with corrosion.
The volvo fan btw is a dual speed unit... so it has 3 wires coming off of it and you can delete the BMW resistor all together.
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cool. Will look at mine today.