25 replies to this topic

[Dusky]

Hi!

I was running the cam in yesterday and took the Mini for a drive after .
Suddenly on High rpm( mustve been 5-6k) the fan shattered. and the belt flipped tkl. Has anyone seen this before? Fan was spaced with the standard thick spacer. Pulleys run in line.
I did feel some play in the waterpump (only 1 year Old!) But I dont know if that play was present before. (I am replacing the pump).
Any ideas?

Quite Happy the rad wasnt hit tho..

[the.stroker]

I know someone who had this happen to them, was s brand new fan as well

[Dusky]

New fan here as well!:/

[Spider]

I've seen it with cheap non-OEM Fans, more so on other cars, but also on Minis.

 

Can be dangerous when they let fly, probably less so on a Mini, but in there have been fatalities.

 

The Original Fans had moulded in to them 'ENGINE SIDE' on that side of the fan, the after market ones I've seen to date don't have anything on them.

[M111OWW]

Exactly the same happened to me, new genuine fan from mini spares and under the same conditions..
Only with mine there was nothing left of the blades at all, just the yellow hub!!!

[Danyul1275]

I had this happen to me twice, turned out the problem was the breather on the timing cover was the wrong shape (circular rather than oval) so at higher rpm when the fan was flexing it would catch the breather and snap all the blades off

[Dusky]

Exactly the same happened to me, new genuine fan from mini spares and under the same conditions..
Only with mine there was nothing left of the blades at all, just the yellow hub!!!

Same fan!:l

[Spider]

 

Exactly the same happened to me, new genuine fan from mini spares and under the same conditions..
Only with mine there was nothing left of the blades at all, just the yellow hub!!!

Same fan!:l

 

 

Do Mini Spares have Genuine plastic fans?  The ones they've supplied me weren't genuine.

[madaboutcherry]

your fanbelt is inside out.

[Danyul1275]

 

 

Exactly the same happened to me, new genuine fan from mini spares and under the same conditions..
Only with mine there was nothing left of the blades at all, just the yellow hub!!!

Same fan!:l

 

 

Do Mini Spares have Genuine plastic fans?  The ones they've supplied me weren't genuine.

 

 

They say these are genuine Rover parts from BMH http://www.minispare...|Back to search

[tiger99]

Or from a back street factory called BMH somewhere in the far east...

The original fans never failed like that, so it does look like yet another bogus part.

Unless you are using strange pulley ratios in a futile attempt to circulate more water. It doesn't work as the pump cavitates and will be damaged quite quickly, which has not prevented people who should know better advocating it here recently.

Nothing to do with your problem, but moving more water around with a standard pump is a sure way of wasting power and increasing fuel consumption. The correct approach in the extreme cases where it is necessary is to use an external, controlled electric pump. But I digress....

At normal safe maximum engine rpm and with the correct pulleys the genuine fan can be depended on to have an adequate safety margin. Everything will break if over speeded severely.

If you could get hold of a known genuine fan, possibly quite old, and compare it with the one that failed, it would be very useful to everyone to know the differences.

[Dusky]

your fanbelt is inside out.

I know it flipped.....

The biggest difference between New and Old genuine fans seems to be the material. The Old one seems more flexible to me.

[the.stroker]

This is my friends, was brand new

[Danyul1275]

I take it it came with the blades on stroker

[tiger99]

That may be the problem. Plastic generally becomes less flexible with age so if the old one is more flexible there is something very wrong with the new one.

Quite possibly one of the ingredients has been banned and they have not compensated for its loss. But they may have used the wrong material to save a few pence. I think the old ones were polypropylene, easily tested as it floats (just) in water, but I could be wrong. It is also tough and resilient. Something like unplasticised PVC would be cheaper, and brittle...

There are a few simple tests, possibly illegal these days, to identify the type of plastic. Basically they used to be approximate melting point, ease of combustion, smell and type of flame when it burns, etc. Nylon for example is quite distinctive with a strange fruity smell and PVC will give you an unforgettable whiff of hydrochloric acid. Polyethylene just burns with minimal smell, dropping molten blobs.

Maybe a quick comparison of old and new in this way will reveal something? Don't sniff too closely!