Mitsubishi Pajero Montero Viscous Fan Clutch

[4ePikanini]

My viscous fan clutch wasn't working properly anymore and upon removal it had some shaft play. I first considered going electric but decided that a failed viscous is less bad than a failed electric fan.

I bit the bullet and bought a brand new viscous clutch and stripped the old one for pics as I couldn't find any decent pics of them online.

The oil inside was clear as water and had the consistency of cold syrup. Some people claim 10000wt silicone oil (they use it in RC car's diff and shocks) has the same consistency.

Here is the clutch below. It reminds me of a torque converter.

In the 4th picture you can see the hole that gets opened (hot) and closed (cold) by the dark strip running from the middle - that dark strip is attached to the thin pin below the bi-metal strip on the outside of the clutch.

[HYDRO FAN]

What actually went wrong and are they repairable?
Russell

[4ePikanini]

It was locking up at cold start and then released when warm and never locked up again when car got really hot.

I changed the oil with 10000wt silicone oil as some have had good results with that. It seemed to maybe have worked but I had play in the shaft so I decided to replace it as a whole instead.

[Stevie-Ray]

Corrosion around pin...

...could be another cause of problems. I imagine a sticking pin would make it malfunction.
When I had the fan off the motor 2yrs ago, I cleaned the whole unit thoroughly, removed the strip & cleaned the rust of it & lightly spray-painted with Rustguard paint so the alloy (& steel strip painted separately) won't corrode so easily.
Also gave the same treatment to the inlet-manifold & plenum-chamber, (as can be seen in my profile-picture), to keep them looking good & corrosion-free!

Cheers

[4ePikanini]

the play in the shaft made me suspect that the oil was slowly leaking out. I tried replacing the oil but in the end I knew that shaft play would be in the back of my mind all the time so I bought a brand new one.

[Rendrag]

Hey Guys,

Sorry to resurrect an old thread - but I was wondering where one buys the oil for these from? Mine seems to have died in the last 200km, so not looking forward to going through melbourne around lunchtime tomorrow.. Wouldn't mind trying to repair it when we get to my folks place in Ballarat if I can, as I'd really prefer not to put the money into a new one, when i'd rather use that money for a thermo fan conversion :-p (but I'm NOT doing such a conversion while on holiday )

Thanks,

Damien

[4ePikanini]

don't take the chance. Get a replacement.

[Rendrag]

If it wasn't a $400 part, I would, but there's just no way I'm forking out that much money for something that'll get replaced when i have time anyway

[Lazyc]

hate to say it, have a look at the supercheap thermo fans, could be a zip tie/wire job and wire it 100% run time. 1/4 the price.

Could get you home safe/cool.

LC

[Rendrag]

hate to say it, have a look at the supercheap thermo fans, could be a zip tie/wire job and wire it 100% run time. 1/4 the price.

Could get you home safe/cool.

LC

I was just thinking that

Though looking in the SCA parts catalogue, seems I can get the clutch without the fan (my fan is only 3 months old! - but didn't replace the clutch when i replaced the fan..) for $180.. that's not quite as hard to swallow as the $400 repco quoted me for the whole assembly.. Dad says there's a 4wd wrecker just up the road from him, so i'll go see them tomorrow arvo when we roll into ballarat - if I can get a cheap 2nd hand clutch, I'll do that, otherwise i'll see if I can get a new clutch in before we leave for canberra on sunday..

[4ePikanini]

electric fans are not up to the job.

I tried it as well and the car would get close to overheating in traffic.

see my thread here

http://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1382

[Rendrag]

Hey Guys,

Put in a parts request to the 4wd wrecker in Ballarat last night, and had an email from them at 8am saying they didn't have one.. Figured it was worth trying Repco before I left albury - and what do you know, they actually had one in stock! $135 after NRMA member discount! So left the wife and kids at maccas to play, and headed up to repco - 30 mins later, and a couple of annoying burns to my arms, and I had a new viscous clutch fitted up.

All i can say is WOW! I'd say mine has been on the way out for a LONG time.. It's *always* sat on 92-ish, and then climbed to sit smack on 100, when you're foot to the floor up a long hill. It now climbs to 94ish, and drops back to 92 as soon as your foot comes off! And she drops to 85 or so when you pull up at a set of lights, then comes back up to 90 as the fan backs off a bit.

But the really bizarre bit? I'm getting about 1.5L/100km better fuel economy??! Yep, 12L/100km from albury to ballarat! I was blown away by the 13.5L I got from wyong to Albury, but 12??? Just incredible!

[Lazyc]

win/win. repco you say....

LC

[Rendrag]

win/win. repco you say....

Indeed! I was a bit blown away by the price ($150, less 10% NRMA discount, $135), since when I replaced the fan 3 months ago, they quoted me $400 for fan+clutch (no listing for fan by itself..), so I ended up buying a 2nd hand fan from the wreckers for $50, and just bolting it up to my existing clutch..

Protip: the top idler/tensioner pulley on the serpentine belt has a nut on it instead of a bolt.. loosen off the nut, and BUGGER ME, it's SO easy to loosen off the tensioner pulley :-p Had never quite twigged to that before today when I looked at it and went 'hmm, i wonder...'