Quote:
Originally Posted by gusthewonderslug
Right
Got home at 5pm started to undo the top idler pulley after buying a new bearing for the suspect idler pulley, then promptly snapped the pivot bolt “left hand thread, right hand spanner (me) dismantled the assembly that includes the viscous fan, cut myself to pieces, removed the air cleaner, washer bottle, rad hose, burnt myself, swore, sweated, finally extracted the fan assembly and the radiator shroud in one lump, then, replace I the recalcitrant bearing and extracted the snapped bolt, obviously don’t have a spare left hand 10mm bolt in the shed.
looked at all the other pulleys and drives and noticed that the alternator sprag clutch is seized! Mmm that would be the source of my noise, feck! Could have been a 5 minute job, now I’m up to my feckin ears in it and can’t drive it until it’s reassembled.
The question I ask is, who was the brain surgeon who designed the radiator shroud and fan assembly? He/she/It needs a bullet, who has some tips on reassembling it without slicing yourself to bits, should be as simple as fan assembly on serpentine on fan shroud on, washer bottle in, air cleaner in, however how does one get the shroud in with the fan assembly in place?
I’m all ears.
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I can def understand your frustration given the circumstances.
I have had my fans and shroud out numerous times, and removed the rad and intercooler a couple of times as well, and it gets easier every time. I can have the rad out now in about 1 hour now.
But yes, its all packed in there pretty tight. And considering the amount of overheating problems these CRD's have when the engine is loaded up, sometimes I wonder if Jeep should've put bigger radiators and fans on them...
Anyway, the order of clearing the front of the engine goes:
1. Remove the wiper fluid bottle, this is annoyingly finicky. Unplug the wiring and hose from the bottom of the bottle first, then remove the bottle by squeezing it between the shroud and the top rad hose.
2. Remove the air box. Hardest part about this it pulling the bottom half loose from the 3 rubber grommets underneath.
3. Undo clutch fan bolt, big spanner, whack it with a hammer to 'shock' the nut loose in a anti-clockwise direction. Unscrew the clutch fan from the pulley and let it sit down wherever it is comfortable (wedged somewhere between the front of the motor and the bottom of the fan shroud). When putting the clutch fan back on, make sure your grease the threads and mating surfaces of the nut and pulley, and only spin tighten it (don't use a spanner), so it is easy to remove next time.
4. Unplug the elec fan wiring. There is a plug on top of the fan shroud next to the air box, and there is one inside the fan shroud as well. Reach in under the top of the shroud and you'll see it, make sure to unhook it from the retaining hook so it is completely loose. Be sure to remember to plug this back in when replacing everything otherwise you kick yourself afterwards.
5. Unbolt the fan shroud from the rad, and make sure its loose.
6. Using your 3 hands, slide the shroud upwards while bringing the clutch fan up with it. You will have to navigate it past the top rad hose by pushing/flexing it out of the way.
Once you have the shroud and clutch fan out, some people cut a section off the lowest part of the shroud so that the clutch fan can be removed and refitted by sliding it out through the bottom of the shroud in the future (I personally have not bothered to do this).
Hope this helps when you go to replace everything again in the reverse order.
