# cooling fan clutch & fan blade



## reevesna (Dec 23, 2004)

so quite a while ago i was driving home and there was a little chug and noise in my car but i didn't notice anything major...when i got home i noticed the whine from the motor was slightly louder than normal...after inspection i noticed that the fan blades were missing or broken...this was not good...fortunatly nothing else was ruined and i took the fan off and talked to the dealership...they said it was comon for the fan clutch to cease and cause the fan to spin too fast and come apart...so i got the parts (actually in stock) and put it off since the car never got any hotter than it normally did...auxilary electric fan in front anyways...but today i tackled it and let me tell you trying to put the fan on the clutch while its on the car is very difficult because of the fan shroud...i was afraid to try and bend the fan putting the shroud on after wards so trail and error (lots of error dropped sockets bolts and scraped up hands) i finally got it all back together...what an ordeal...i probably should have done it much sooner however because i'm sure the ceased fan clutch's wobbling did not benefit the balance of the motors in/ex ternal parts what so ever...oh well if something breaks it breaks...i refuse to take it easy and not enjoy my car to the fullest because something might break...thats why they make remanufactured engines with 20% increase in performance right ...any questions on the matter go ahead and ask


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## Estoril73 (Dec 15, 2004)

Would you happen to have a write-up on how you re-installed the fan clutch? Reason for asking is because I have a 98 M3 and it makes this annoying noise which sounds like the fan clutch in need of oil or something. THanks!


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## bimmerZ5 (Jan 11, 2005)

reevesna said:


> so quite a while ago i was driving home and there was a little chug and noise in my car but i didn't notice anything major...when i got home i noticed the whine from the motor was slightly louder than normal...after inspection i noticed that the fan blades were missing or broken...this was not good...fortunatly nothing else was ruined and i took the fan off and talked to the dealership...they said it was comon for the fan clutch to cease and cause the fan to spin too fast and come apart...so i got the parts (actually in stock) and put it off since the car never got any hotter than it normally did...auxilary electric fan in front anyways...but today i tackled it and let me tell you trying to put the fan on the clutch while its on the car is very difficult because of the fan shroud...i was afraid to try and bend the fan putting the shroud on after wards so trail and error (lots of error dropped sockets bolts and scraped up hands) i finally got it all back together...what an ordeal...i probably should have done it much sooner however because i'm sure the ceased fan clutch's wobbling did not benefit the balance of the motors in/ex ternal parts what so ever...oh well if something breaks it breaks...i refuse to take it easy and not enjoy my car to the fullest because something might break...thats why they make remanufactured engines with 20% increase in performance right ...any questions on the matter go ahead and ask


it's really a lot easier to just remove the whole fan clutch out with the proper tools. a pulley holder and 32mm (?) thin long wrench... i found a set on ebay for around $20 or not much more. removing the fan clutch is now a 5 minute job.


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## Estoril73 (Dec 15, 2004)

bimmerZ5 said:


> it's really a lot easier to just remove the whole fan clutch out with the proper tools. a pulley holder and 32mm (?) thin long wrench... i found a set on ebay for around $20 or not much more. removing the fan clutch is now a 5 minute job.


Do you have an Ebay link ?


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## cnterline (Aug 12, 2007)

*fan cluth*

to remove the fan clutch on a BMW 4.4 X5 do you rotate the nut clockwise to loosen or counterclockwise to loosen? before I break my knuckles


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## Blazer019 (Sep 27, 2009)

*Remove the fan clutch on a BMW 4.4 X5*

For anyone needing future reference...the radiator cooling fan nut has left-hand threads meaning you turn the wrench clockwise.


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