Cheers everyone,

I watched quite some videos on YouTube, but they all describe a fan clutch that doesn't engage any more.

I have the feeling that my fan clutch is stuck closed. When starting the car in the morning it is quite loud and it stays like it for quite a while.
Today I had the engine running for 2 minutes, after one week of not driving it, and I tried to stop the fan with a piece of rubber. But it didn't work. The fan ate the rubber away easily.
But when the engine is off and cold, I can spin the fan quite freely by hand?!

Is the clutch bad? Or not?

I also think that my gas consumption increased since I noticed the noises from the fan blowing.

Thanks for any help guys!

 

Check and see how the fan feels engine off, and cold, then, warm it up, see how it feels hot. (engine also off. I like my fingers attached....) Should be a bit more resistance when engine is up to temp.

 

Thanks for your answer.
​​​​​​Will check that tomorrow.
But for me, when the engine is cold and running for 1-2 minutes it should be possible to stop the fan, shouldn't it?

 

My fan on my 08 blows really hard for the first few minutes, then loosens up after the fluid in the clutch heats up a bit. It has done this from day 1. If you can turn it with the engine off, it's not locked up. When it's cold, I dount you will be able to stop it with rubber.

 

That's what I'd say, too. But after 1-2 minutes I should be able to stop it, shouldn't I? The rubber was a piece of an old mallet, so not only rubber really, but rubber over some metal inside I think. So it is not really flexible. But still soft. You know what I mean? So for me, if the clutch would be working normally, I should be able to stop it when the engine is cold and has been running for 1-2 minutes? I don't know what kind of different defects there might be to a fan clutch though.

But I found a new one for 45$ shipped to Germany, so just ordered that now and will change it over to test.

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

Did the check today but resistance is the same.
When cold and spinning it stops nearly instantly, same when the engine is hot. Will stop nearly instantly, like after half a second maximum.

 

You could replace it, but, no guarantees that would solve the issue.... Usually though, what you describe IS a failed fan clutch.

 

Thanks for the info. Very hard to get informations on this stuff, they usually fail by not engaging at all and the car overheating.
My car doesn't overheat at all, but it seems the fan is spinning more than it should I think.
Will just replace once I get it (delivery on monday, super fast from the US to Germany) and see how it "feels".

Thanks for your help!