Problem found, noisey Xantia rad fans, any advice?

Sphinx · Unread post by **Sphinx** » 05 May 2008, 16:44

I diagnosed the problem as being the left radiator fan (if looking at the car front on). Both of them start as they should when you put the air con on or leave the car to heat up but the left one makes a terrible noise when doing so, it also vibrates (yet feels solid on it's spindle when you try and move it around)

It's an R reg 2.1 so the has the FMIC, for this reason I think tilting the rads to gain access isn't going to work, instead I'm going to go ahead and take the front bumper off.
Can anyone tell me if they think this fan can be fixed? or where to get another new one from (as cheap as humanly possible lol) I don't want to risk it with one from a breakers.

Any advice much appreciated

Original Post:

Hello all, I really hope you can help me here.
I was driving my R reg 2.1 around and it started making a really odd sound, like a whistle Only now and then, doesn't seem to depend on revs or speed.
The only way I can describe it is sounding like a steam engine or a not quite right horn

Can anyone shed some light on this please?

Sphinx · Unread post by **Sphinx** » 05 May 2008, 19:58

OK, found the problem; turns out it's one of the rad fans making the noise.

Sphinx · Unread post by **Sphinx** » 06 May 2008, 11:00

Bump before I start ripping things apart and swearing at it.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 06 May 2008, 12:54

This thread might help a bit for getting the fans out..

Fan Removal

I reckon you'll be safe enough getting a fan from a scrapyard as long as you test it. Just connect it across a battery and listen to it. If it sounds OK it should last well enough. Even before you test a fan on a battery, you should be able to judge the state of its bearings by spinning it by hand.

Unread post by **xantia_v6** » 06 May 2008, 17:17

One of my fans got noisy last year, but I did not at the time have a 10mm socket slim enough to get behind it, so I just removed the blade (remember LEFT HAND THREAD) and put some 3-in-1 oil around the shaft and ran the motor for a few seconds at a time while applying the oil.
It has been quiet ever since.

admiral51 · Unread post by **admiral51** » 06 May 2008, 21:30

Depending on how brave/foolhardy/how much work you want to do

try having a look at Fan Removal lots of extra work involved

some pics in the link as well

Colin

Sphinx · Unread post by **Sphinx** » 07 May 2008, 15:38

OK I took the fan blades off to investigate and neither of them feel anything less than perfect

No play or anything. So I oiled them both, ran them several times and they were silent....the once I'd put everything back together they started making the noise again

Looks like i'm going to have to get a new motor, my question is; do any others fit? ie, from a peugeot etc? I've looked and a new one from gsf is £76

The reason I'm fond of a new one is becuase if I was look at mine in a breakers, it would seem perfect, it's when it's heated up I assume that it makes the noise and it's not even constant.

Sphinx · Unread post by **Sphinx** » 07 May 2008, 19:15

OK it now seems that there is some slight play in the shaft, you can feel it 'clunk' as opposed to flex and you can see the fan wobble when it's on.

I need to use the car soon and i don't really have time yet to sort it so would there be be any problem with removing the fan blades on the worn motor to stop it potentially breaking up while driving along?