Fan clutch bearing? Assembly? Shaft?

[Elizabetty]

I have a million irons in the fire right now and one of them is the water pump which I have successfully put in and I know it makes sense to do the fan clutch and water pump together. Fan does act up so I know it's not working right.

What I am trying to learn is not necessarily how the fan works with the fluid inside and temperature etc. I'm trying to understand the basic assembly. Are they ever assembled poorly where I need to tighten something? I plan on getting a new fan clutch but I'm trying to understand what this piece of it is so I know what's happening to my replacement if it were to happen again.

I have no movement at the pulley or the water pump. Handled that. I have attached a photo with an arrow pointing to where I have movement when I grab the fan blades and move up and down or left to right, not referring to spinning movement. It's like the whole clutch is loose on the shaft or isn't attached/secured to the shaft properly but that's my uneducated way of explaining it. Nut is secure to water pump. No play beyond nut. All movement at clutch.

Is that something that is supposed to be tightened inside somewhere? I don't have the bearing noise I'm reading everywhere on the internet. Maybe it's soon to follow if I were to drive it.

 

[TJBaker57]

As much as I hate to do it I am going to refer you the "old site" because there is an old post there from someone involved with GM that knew far more about this fan clutch than anyone else we see posting. Read at least the first posting of the thread, it tells the story.

Fan clutch 101

www.trailvoy.com

After reading that I will later post a few pictures later where I actually opened up some fan clutches a little bit for a peek inside at the valve!! I have like a half dozen fan clutches for experimental purposes.

 

[TJBaker57]

Here are a few pictures that relate to that article...

 

[TJBaker57]

And here is a little video showing how the valve is acted upon by the electromagnet. In operating it I could sense that there is some initial resistance to getting the valve mechanism moving so I suppose the PCM uses sufficient power to get that thing to move. It uses a PWM (pulse width modulated) power to adjust the amount the valve opens.

 

[TJBaker57]

And while we are at it.... here is a video where I test for continuity from the speed sensor signal line to ground. To sense the fan speed the PCM supplies a 5 volt power reference and a low reference ground to the sensor. This power is only used to operate the sensor electronics, not the valve solenoid. On the speed signal wire the PCM sends a weak 5 volt signal out. As the fan rotates the sensor electronics ground out that weak 5 volt signal 6 times per fan revolution and this creates a pulsing on the signal wire that the PCM can read and then use that pulsing frequency to calculate the fan RPM.

 

[Mooseman]

That's lots of info there but more specific to @Elizabetty 's wobbly clutch, if you have excessive play where you're pointing at, it's likely the bearings in it are worn and will likely fail. It's recommended that you get the original Behr clutch for longevity and proper operation as others have been found to either not operate as per OEM spec or fail early.

 

[Elizabetty]

Ty @Mooseman - i did read through the information that was supplied and learned a lot but didn't see anything specific to my question. I'm guessing since you mentioned it's a bearing and did not mention repair for that, I will be stuck buying the new one. I really don't want to because I fear it's an investment I'm going to make just to be able to drive it while I'm figuring out and fixing all the other problems and it will end up being money wasted in the end (when this thing end up being junk.) :/ However, I also understand that I can't run it without a decent fan or I'll risk overheating and causing other problems.

While I know this is not the preferred choice, and it could be an expensive lesson for me in the end, what would be the harm in buying a used Behr off a 2007 envoy with 117,000 mi from a local junkyard here? They have a 90-day warranty so I kind of thought 90 days is plenty of time for me to figure out what else might be going on with my vehicle and I only have to pay 50 bucks for it. I'll know if it's junk pretty much right away no different than how I know my current one is junk. Worst case scenario, $50 lesson learned and I have to buy the new one anyway. At least it's going to be one of their later fan clutches made once they sort of figured things out better in the design from what I gathered in the reading that was supplied above.

 

[Mooseman]

I've done that in the past but with a newer thermal version. Those tend to last longer but you would need to have the PCM reprogrammed to turn off the codes for the missing electronic fan.

You might be going through several of them until you find a working one. They usually tend to be original and junk.

 

[Elizabetty]

@TJBaker57 --- It must be said. You fascinate me! Appreciate all you share!

 

[Elizabetty]

@Mooseman --- yes, I read your post and did check out the lime (lime something or other) website you linked either here or on another thread. I'm basically playing doctor right now and going to school to be a doctor while I do it LOL once I'm confident in what I have and how much more I want to invest in it, I'll be considering the thermal fan with the tune if I keep it. I had originally thought of going electric (I'll be honest. It's because I saw pretty red ones LOL) but multiple posts have steered me away from that for now. Ty for the tip!