If you want to get an idea of what I was talking about when I said to stick something in the fan, this guy seemed to have the same idea to demonstrate a good and bad clutch. Funnily enough, he did not end up losing any fingers, toes or arms. Not to mention nothing was ruined, broken or destroyed in the process.


I understand that you wouldn't want to tell someone to do this and that you would be worried about it, but if you know what you're doing, it's fine. I do not recommend anyone do this either, I'm only speaking for myself and trying to make sure the clutch is working properly. If you watch the video through, you'll see exactly what I mean.

 

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Why would I stick my hand in the fan? There are so many other things I can stick in there first, why would I start with a body part? He obviously knew what was going to happen before he did that. It's like, if you're not a moron and not oblivious to reality, you can safely use unconventional methods like this if you know what to look for and if you take precautions. I'm not telling people to jam their arm in the fan, I mean, try to be somewhat reasonable about this. You're acting as if I'm going to throw myself into the fan and just hope for the best, that's obviously not reasonable or logical.

Anyway, thanks for all the help, but I'm sure the clutch fan is working fine and that was not the cause of this issue.

 

I have a '97 Toyota Land Cruiser that had a failed fan clutch after 160K miles. Last summer the AC, at idle and warmer weather would make the AC belt squeal and the inside air would get warm. I tried putting in more R134a with the pressure gauge can following directions and was able to do so. When that failed to fix the problem, I took it to the AC shop. There the mechanic evacuated the system, checked for leaks, then measured in the precise amount of my old refrigerant that he recycled back in along with a precise measure of compressor oil. After working on the AC, the same belt squeal happened to him. He finally announced to me that the fan clutch was shot as everything else was good. He looked through his parts books but could find no replacement part for this rare automobile. I took it home thinking I would add an electric fan, but never got around to it last year.

This summer, as it warmed up the same thing started to happen. I looked online at the Toyota forum to find the "right" kind of electric fan to install. There I found that most everyone was opening up the old fan clutch, draining the silicon fluid from it, and replacing it with new silicon fluid from an "RC Hobby Shop". It seems that this fluid is used in the diffs of model RC cars and can be had pretty cheap. I purchased a bottle of silicon oil, 59mL for $5.95. The viscosity was 7,000 ( I forget the units) and stock viscosity was 6,000 according to the Toyota forum. I refilled the fan clutch with 50mL and put the fan clutch back on, and all is now good now even in heat and traffic. Many guys in the southwest and Australia where these vehicles are big put in viscosity of 10,000 to keep them cool in the high heat. It seems that silicon fluid actually gets thicker as temps increase and will engage the fan when hot, rather then when cool. Higher viscosities just make the fan turn at a higher RPM at lower temps.

I felt the $68 and 1 hour I spent with the AC guy was money well spent. He diagnosed the problem with his knowledge and with his correct tools at his disposal. I now know that the system is good and tight and the refrigerant is at the correct level for best performance. He pointed me in the right direction for getting my belt squeal fixed.

 

Good story rsdata, I hope Tommy fixes his and tells us what happened. Sometimes you just have to put it to someone with experience. And 70 dollars is a small price for piece of mind.

 

I'll let you guys know what happened when I have it looked at, but it won't be for a while yet.