Kristian39

Hi All! My cooling fan appears to be hitting the cowling. Not badly but lightly (not badly enough to mark the cowling). If I look at the bottom left i.e. about 25 to the hour on a clock face, the gap between fan and shroud is negligible. What could have caused this? I replaced the alternator on the way tot he Nurburgring in Germany. I used tools etc in a garage there and replaced it. Could the belt tension be too tight? It's been 10 months since it was replaced so I doubt the Alternator bearing could have gone? Can I adjust this at all? I don't remember there being any adjustment when I didi the job. Any help much appreciated. Cheers

Kristian

KC911

Could it be that the 6 nuts that secure the altenator to the fan housing (cowling?) were not tightened evenly and in a cross pattern? If not, that could potentially pull the altenator into the housing a bit 'off' and cause this. I made this discovery after having my housing powder coated and the thickness of the pc was causing the altenator to seat unevenly in the housing thus having the same effect (i.e. fan rub). Hope this helps...

Keith
'88 CE coupe

theiceman

Take the belt off and spin it. if it hits or if you have uneven clearance you may be able to realign. If not it may be belt tension but it has to be awfull tight to move the fan, but the fact you are hitting n the bottom may be telling you that is the case. There is some minore movement allowed with the nuts I found with mine once I cleaned up the area.

ice

Kristian39

Yep, I'll do that tonight as first line of attack. Can you tell by moving the fan (on it's axis) if the bearings are worn? Cheers

Kris

theiceman

Well put it this way .. if there is play back on the Fan , the bearings are definitely shot, but you may not notice it by hand. If you take the belt off and you have no tuching , I would be a little suspicious.

DGaunt

1) bearing bad in alternator.
2) bolts holding alt. loose
3) band on fan shroud overtightened.

Hope this helps.

ron mcatee

Kristian, if the alternator was not pressed evenly into the housing, that may be your problem. I recently did the alternator swap and couldn't get mine to seat properly, so i took it to a shop and had it pressed in evenly and the fit is great. You may have the same problem. It's worth a check.

Droops83

All of the previous suggestions are good, but also make sure u put the spacer that goes between the fan and the alternator on the new one, if u don't the fan goes too deep in the housing. Good luck!

Chris Andropoulos
Schneider Autohaus
Santa Barbara, CA

Kristian39

I found the problem a long tim eago but thought I'd feed back. Basically, not all the spacing washers had been put back and so the pulley had worked loose. The bad thing is it has destroyed the square section on the fan that the outer pulley and washers slide onto and so you can't get tension in the belt. I had secured it all with additional washers but some noise has returned. I am having the fan reconditioned on Wednesday and have bought a new outer pulley, so hopefully this will fix the situation once and for all. NOTE: ALWAYS PUT BACK ALL THE SPACING WASHERS EVEN IF YOU DO NOT NEED THEM BETWEEN THE TWO PULLEY HALVES. THE WORKSHOP IN GERMANY DIDN'T DO THIS ON MY CAR (ON THE WAY TO THE RING) AND HAS RESULTED IN THIS! PLUS £300 FOR A NEW ALTERNATOR! IT WAS EITHER THAT OR A MORE EXPENSIVE TOW BACK TO ENGLAND!

theiceman

So your alternator is only threaded up to a certain point ? . The nut hit the end of the threads before the pulley got tight due to no spacers on the outside of the pulley ?

PorscheMD

If you overtighten the band it will cause the fan to rub on the housing.

Kristian39

Correct. You always need all 6 spacers. People often think because they are not needed between the pulley halves that they don't have to replace them on the shaft. WRONG! Always put all of these back in place either between the pulleys or between the washer and pulley. I'm amanaging to get my fan reconditioned. The machined part that fits the outer pulley has a large groove in it at the moment because the outer half of the pulley has moved from side to side and cut into it. It's all but useless at the moment although for the last few months I used some extra washers and managed to get it all tight.

Kris