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MG MGF Technical - engine bay fan

My engine bay fan was making a terrible screeching noise so, until I can afford to replace it (or maybe fix it which is unlikely as I think it may be the bearing) I have disconnected it.
IS the car still driveable as long as I keep an eye on the oil temperature and don't expect to keep anything that is in the boot from melting!


Anyone had any experience of driving without an engine bay fan? Any major trouble, I mean to anything important like the engine, not any loss to driver comfort from getting too hot, that I can cope with, any major repair to the engine I can do without!!!
kate

Hi! Kate,

I would get that engine bay fan replaced or checked
out a.s.a.p. The water circulation to this particular make of car is critical as only (I think)
1.5 litres of water passes through the engine at any
one time. Any overheating, loss of coolant could be
very costly if it causes your head gasket to fail.
You would be looking at a bill of £700-1200 depending
on the garage you used if that happened.

What age is your MGf. 2000-2001 cars seem to suffer
more than most over coolant problems/overheating so
I have been told.

Regards

Bill
W.A. Pearson

Surely you don't keep melty things in the boot anyway!
So long as the radiator fan is working properly you are probably safe as the engine bay fan is very much less important. But I wouldn't feel happy without it for too long. Some people have reported a huge improvement in the noise by squirting WD40 or aerosol lubricant into the fan motor when it is running- easy enough and worth a try.
Charless

Cheers for the replies, will sort a new fan if necessary next pay-day, hopefully a squirt of WD40 will do it though. For now I will put bags of shopping from the supermarket on the passenger seat instead of the boot so don't end up with curdled milk, melted butter etc when I get home!
Apart from my shopping I keep only car stuff in the boot!
kate

If you need bit of extra storage space use the front. It will not keep thigs dry in the wet but it is cool - and its worth it for the funny looks you get.

Chris
Chris

The engine bay fan on my trophy has come twice that I know of since new, once on a hot day in france and once the other hot day in Dereham, In this country I don't think it's that critical.
M.
mike

The VVC and MPi have the engine bay stats set at different temperatures - the MPi is lower and as a consequence it constantly switches the cooling fan on.

It is worth remembering that the front bonnet area is also a 'safety crumple zone' so not to store anything under there that might compromise your safety. BUT I do agree it is cooler, even though the radiator is also in that area, and we use it for storage of such items as triangle, first aid kit, spare hi vis-vests, wash leather and miscellaneous cleaning gear - especially when touring and the boot is absolutely full!

Ted Newman

Our engine bay fan came on for the first time in 6 months and emitted an ungodly howling noise. Having had HGF we thought "What the.......", pulled over and switched off but the cursed howl continued, causing passers by to stop and stare. It finally cut out, just as I realised the source. After one or two repeated episodes the fan "bedded in" and has not been heard since. Run at idle, let it warm up, let it howl, it'll pass. NEVER REDUCE THE COOLING CAPACITY OF AN MGF ENGINE. ie., do not disconnect the engine fan...EVER.
RD MADGWICK

Update on driving without an engine bay fan connected.
Drove on Sunday into Central London heading for East London, big mistake as the London Triathlon was on.
Anyway, ended up driving for a total of nearly 4 hours in slow traffic without turning the engine off once in that time and the oil temp never went above 90. From experience the only way to get the oil temp up is to be heavy with the right foot! Then the engine bay fan will come on and keep coming on even when you have slowed it all down.
Until I get a new fan I guess I will have to take it easy.
Presumably the radiator fan must work as I was in slow/stationary traffic for ages! That is something I guess!
kate

the engine bay fan is not for lowering the oil temp, its for lowering the temp of the engine bay.

The exhaust pipe gets very hot and the air in the bay might get into the hundred of degrees, melting vacuum pipework or wiring.
Will Munns

The engine bay fan in my F switchs on very often, even in the -very- cold winters. I doubt that unplugging it may be wise.
JM Vega-P.

Mine's been doing the same for about a year, I wouldn't worry about it too much - I've just come back from a 2000 mile trip to Switzerland, and apart from it being slightly embaressing it's not doing any harm. It's gradually getting worse, so I should get around to replacing it soon.
Emma Jackman

UPDATE on Emma's fan.

Visted a scrap yard over the weekend, and sourced a replacemnt fan. Cost £20 all in, not too bad i thought, but the best thing was that the removal process was really easy with the car stacked on the roof of a R45 and the engine bay inspection panels and alloys off - good visibility and access meant i was able to find the two 10mm nuts very easily indeed and knew how to do the switch over on Emma's F no problem.

Anyway, including opening up the engine bay, jacking up and removal of the road wheel and access panel the whole job was no more than 45 minutes work. :-)

Tips:
On an F, it is unnecessary to unclip the Hydragas pipe int he wheel arch for removal, but is much easier to get the bottom nut lined up with the pipe work temporarily unclipeed and moved out of the way. You also need a fairly long extension to your ratchet.

Space is very tight in the engine bay with the alternator fitted (i imagine it is worse if you have A/C). Getting it out of the scrapped car was easy (not alternator, although the engine was still insitu), doing the same on Emma's F needed a bit more jiggling! The fan comes out and goes in from above.

Nice easy job that needn't be expensive. :-)

SF
Scarlet Fever

I've not heard mine running for yonks - keep meaning to check if it does work. Is there an easy way to make it go without running the engine for a long time?
Mike Cunningham

Hi Folks,
The bearings on these fans (including the rad one) have sintered bronze bearings and have been pre-lubed by being immersed in oil for quite some hours before fitment. Remove the fan from the motor and soak the bearing overnight in a light oil - it's probably only the front bearing that's dry. This will give the motor a new lease of life - so don't just throw it away thinking it is u.s. I'm sure you SF can rejuvinate Emma's fan motor.
Hope this is of some help.
willyphixitt
W A Nixson

good news about oiling the bearings, have not been driving much recently due to the fan being disconnected and when I do drive it I drive like a granny so the engine won't get too hot so it is getting pretty boring! Have found that if I keep the revs down the oil temperature doesn't get too high, I know that is not the same as the ambient temperature in the engine bay but there must be some correlation surely? When I first got the car I did not rev it and the fan never came on then one day I gave a mate a lift and showed off a bit, revving it more, the fan came on and scared me silly!
will get the fan off asap and try oiling the bearings and putting it back on, can't hurt!
My plan was to get the bearings off and take them to a bearings place in Park Royal my boyfriend knows about to get replacements, might do that too as the bearings should be pretty cheap there apparently.

Thanks willyphixitt!
kate

This thread was discussed between 06/08/2008 and 28/08/2008

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