[xk] Driving around with no fan causes trouble

Well Im on vacation this week, so for some reason I thought
it would be fun to temporarily remove the fan from my 140
and try driving around a little, to see what would happen. I
figure if I could keep moving, the car wouldnt overheat, as
the fan probably doesnt do much except at low speed.

So yesterday I took off the fan and carefully placed the
four attaching screws and those two balancing rings on the
shelf where they wouldnt get misplaced. I started up the
engine and everything looked ok, the belt was driving the
waterpump and generator just fine. So I drove around the
neighborhood a little, keeping an eye on the temp gauge, and
came home. No overheating.

So this morning, I decided to drive a little farther. I had
a route all planned out, first go about a mile to the
library to return some books, then go about another mile to
the parts store, then if all was OK at that point, make a
little run along Riverside Drive a few miles at about 60 or
70 kph, then head home.
So I loaded a couple of jugs of water in the boot, and
headed out, fanless.
I made it to the library, and also to the parts store. No
idling in traffic, no overheating, as expected. But then,
just as I was leaving the parts store, I suddenly heard a
faint metallic tinkling sound coming from up front
somewhere. It sounded exactly like something caught up in
the fan blades, but there was no fan. Whats going on ?

So I immediately turned off the engine and took a look.
Well, the boo boo I had made was immediately evident…I
had forgotten that the four screws holding the fan onto the
waterpump also attach the pulley to the waterpump. That
pulley (after I had removed the screws) had been just
holding onto the waterpump hub by friction and a little
corrosion, and had finally fallen off, and was scraping on
the harmonic balancer, the fan belt dangling uselessly.

Well, trying to drive it home without a working waterpump,
or even a fan, was not something I wanted to do. Initially I
was just going to call my son to come and get me, so I could
go home and bring back the four screws, but then, since I
was actually at a parts store, I thought I could just get 4
screws and bolt the pulley back on and head for home.
They only had 5/16 coarse thread bolts, and I needed 5/16’’
finethread, so I ended up using four 1/4’’ bolts with nuts to
re-attach the pulley to the waterpump hub. Not easy to
install those bolts and nuts, so I had to loosen up the
generator to get some slack in the belt. It took a while, as
the only glasses I had were sunglasses, making it almost
impossible for me to see the generator attaching bolts down
in the shadows, the engine was hot, with lots of heat
pouring off the radiator, and all I wanted to do was get home.
The Garrington adjustable wrench from the toolkit came in
handy though.
Well I finally managed to get the pulley and belt all back
in place, and made it home OK.

Now it is time to go get those four screws off the shelf and
reinstall the fan where it belongs.–
Gary Grant S818919DN
Ottawa, Canada
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

In a message dated 9/8/2009 1:43:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
grant3@sympatico.ca writes:

Now it is time to go get those four screws off the shelf and
reinstall the fan where it belongs.–

Gary,
You do realize senility comes with age? As I learned when I installed the
crank & bearing caps, pistons & rods, torqued them down then had to undo
every thing & remove the crank because I forgot to install the rear seal
assy. The crank flange is in the way of the 2 lower bolts of the upper 1/2 of
the seal housing. I think it’s a little too late for the “live & learn”
phrase.
Be thankful it didn’t do more damage, like maybe the pulley being encased
in the radiator core.

Regards, Otto M.

In reply to a message from Gary Grant sent Tue 8 Sep 2009:

Gary
I have an electric fan on my 140, so I guess I too can have
fun driving around without a fan. What I have found is that
even at highway speeds, where the fan should be unnecessary,
the car runs cooler with it on. The only thing I can surmise
is the fan helps move the air through the engine
compartment. It’s like the cooling air meets a restriction
after the radiator, so not as much of it can flow through
the radiator (does that make sense?). The fan probably
doesn’t move the air any faster, it just gives it a clearer
path. JAT.
Joel–
The original message included these comments:

Well Im on vacation this week, so for some reason I thought
it would be fun to temporarily remove the fan from my 140
and try driving around a little, to see what would happen. I
Gary Grant S818919DN


ex jag, '66 E-type S1 4.2, '56 XK140dhc, '97 XJ-6
Denison, TX, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
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