Fan hitting radiator - water pump ?

[Christopher]

My fan (9 blade viscous) is hitting the radiator under heavy braking. I've lost the tip from one of the blades and its torn up the vertical support from the middle of the radiator.

It's not surprising - i have clearance of just 5mm between the fan and radiator. My engine / gearbox mounts are all fairly new and tight.

The water pump has the bolt on adaptor for the fan clutch and there is plenty of space behind the fan. It seems this must be the problem.

Have i either fitted in incorrectly somehow, or am i able to solve this by using a water pump that doesn't require the adpator ? - i can't find anything, so any info or advice is appreciated.

 

[sfdon]

Install a new 2 row radiator and be done with it?
you need to post a pic of both motor mounts for us.

 

[Stevehose]

Install a new 2 row radiator and be done with it?
you need to post a pic of both motor mounts for us.

and transmission mount(s)?

 

[Christopher]

Here's the transmission mount and one side of the motor mount (the other side is as good though, just not got an image of it to hand)

I'd rather find a different solution than replacing the radiator. it's fairly new, and it's not an inexpensive thing to replace. however, it would be interesting to check out all the same. Don - do you have a link you could share ?

Thanks guys

 

[adawil2002]

Had the viscous clutch fan bolt back out years ago because of a missing lock clip on the bolt. Lost the red fan & had to record the radiator.

 

[sfdon]

There is a clever fix to move the radiator away from the fan. It costs nothing but a few minutes of your time. I’ll run to the shop for pics…

 

[sfdon]

And that’s how you move your radiator away from the fan…

 

[Honolulu]

Your motor and trans mounts look okay.

Try to wobble the fan, anything other than simple rotational movement about its shaft suggests the seal has gone bad, and corrosion is destroying the bearing, then the fan has radiator for lunch. A bad seal and bearing may be revealed by observation of a small drop of water on the +/-2mm hole on the underside of the pump body. The hole is difficult to see, mirrors and lights may be needed. BTDT!

Short version, if that's the case: time for a new water pump.

If the bad-news bird drops a load on you, be really really careful when removing the steel 6mm bolts (10 mm hex heads) holding the aluminum pump body to the iron engine, they are known to seize and snap. You might survive snapping only one of them if you use a goodly amount of sealer on the gasket, but that's probably the limit and if you break two, expect to have to drill them out. They like to break flush with the iron block and are not in a friendly place for removal. Use "enough" anti-seize on them when reinstalling.

 

[Christopher]

Thanks for the advice guys

Honolulu - Everything is rock solid thankfully, it's all fairly new

Don - Neat trick. I've done this easily this morning and it's given me a few extra mills clearance. Hopefully this will nail it. Rather than take it for a test and brake hard i thought i'd wait 'til it happens naturally in the future, so fingers crossed. Thanks again

 

[Wladek]

You can use additional originally used brackets.

 

[autokunst]

Beautiful photo of this part.

 

[dang]

under heavy braking

That's your problem.

 

[Christopher]

Sure Dang, but i decided to spare the pheasant ... !

 

[Christopher]

Wladek - what is this bracket ? - it's not one i recognise

 

[Ohmess]

I think that only comes on later coupes, and installs over the motor mount to limit the movement of the engine.

That said, I don't have these in my car, so I may be off base on this.

 

[autokunst]

I don't know when they started and stopped, but my '73 had one of these original "movement limiters" on it when it came to me. The other was missing, but there was evidence that one was bolted to the subframe previously.

 

[oldcoupe]

From memory, the fan bolts to the back of the viscous clutch, so I put some spacer washers between the clutch and the fan, moving it back enough to make a difference.

 

[Bmachine]

I don't know when they started and stopped, but my '73 had one of these original "movement limiters" on it when it came to me. The other was missing, but there was evidence that one was bolted to the subframe previously.

Same here. Only one side IIRC

 

[Bmachine]

I think that only comes on later coupes, and installs over the motor mount to limit the movement of the engine.

Correct. Although in my case it did not prevent the “fan hitting the radiator” issue

 

[Bmachine]

My fan (9 blade viscous) is hitting the radiator under heavy braking. I've lost the tip from one of the blades and its torn up the vertical support from the middle of the radiator.

It's not surprising - i have clearance of just 5mm between the fan and radiator. My engine / gearbox mounts are all fairly new and tight.

The water pump has the bolt on adaptor for the fan clutch and there is plenty of space behind the fan. It seems this must be the problem.

Have i either fitted in incorrectly somehow, or am i able to solve this by using a water pump that doesn't require the adpator ? - i can't find anything, so any info or advice is appreciated.

I had the same issue after replacing a failed third party water pump with a real OEM one. Fan blade even got stuck in radiator top. No damage fortunately. The BMW water pump moves the flange forward a bit. It was fixed with Don’s trick above