My viscous coupling seized and the fan exploded. It can happen, the damage was extensive in engine compartment and fan blade went through hood. in the end was about 2k in damage. and that was because i did most of the work myself. replaced radiator, shroud upper and lower. mass flow, fan, viscous coupler, airbox, battery box, power steering hi pressure hoses,all cooling hoses and hood. be advised do not drive. A wrench can be purchased at napa i believe it is a ford wrench 32mm? that will fit only 14 dollars.

 

You can often hold the pulleys still enough by pressing down hard with your thumb on the alternator belt - this certainly worked recently on my Tdi defender. Failing that you'll need to lock the water pump pulley by wedging it with something non-metallic - caution here as you can wreck the water pump bearings very easily if you over do this - then give the spanner a couple of good sharp taps with a rubber or wooden mallet. I'd avoid using anything too heavy/hefty to hit the spanner with. Shocking the nut off rather than trying to brute force it off always shows the best results.

I don't know about the V8 models, but the diesels ALL have a REVERSE THREAD on the viscous unit - i.e. clockwise undoes it, anti-clockwise does it up!

When you replace the fan unit - DO NOT use the spanner to do the nut up tight. Do the nut up hand tight then simply hold one blade of the fan between finger and thumb to stop the fan turning and start the engine. Stop the engine straight away to prevent it warming up and that's tight enough

Cheers,

Adam.

 

Adz, the same is true about the reverse thread for gasoline models too. Ok, well I've ordered the part so when I go home this weekend I'll give it a shot and post the results. Thanks for all the input guys.

 

Hmmm... I believe you would be wrong about the petrol models. I work on them daily. Left(counterclockwise) to loosen, right(clockwise) to tighten. LR3's are reverse thread. Disco's I and II are regular thread.

 

Ok did a bit of searching and asking. Later V8's with serpentine auxilliary beltshave a conventional RH thread. Early V8's with seperate, old stylee, V belts will have a reverse or LH thread (eg RRC). I'm fairly certain that a '96 disco has a serpentine belt - but since it's easiest to check by looking at it I'll leave it there

Cheers,

Adam.

 

RAVE manual says its reversed, and yes 96s do have a serpentine

 

I am thinking it is reversed. Don't remember, but look at the pitch of the fan blades. That will tell you which way it spins. That would tell you which way it would tighten/loosen.

 

Ok, not that it is hard to do, but now I am throughly confused. My head hurts, so which way is it, Lefty Loosy/Righty Tighty on the fan clutch or is it take it to the shop and dont worry about the threads threads?

 

Spike
How it works is when you have money you take it to the shop and don't worry about it. When you're poor like myself you pull on it the wrong way as hard as you can for 15 minutes, then you realize you're doing it the wrong way and when you try to switch to the right way it's on so tight you can't get it off. Then after some swearing and possibly a few beers you decide you can deal with it till it breaks.

 

hazlet-I'm poor too, tried to replace it in April, after 30min and one snapped screwdriver I gave up.
Now you guys have inspired me to try again next weekend. The new clutch has been sitting on my work bench making fun of me all summer. Right along with the water pump.