How does one check if the clutch fan of a 2001 Grand Vitara V6 is working or not?

I have experienced during a noontime heavy traffic a rise in my temperature gauge to almost 3/4 with the AC blowing warm air.

Before starting the engine for the day - open the hood, grab the fan and spin it - does it ...

a) not turn at all?  The fan clutch is seized - unlikely to be the cause of your problem
b) turn with some resistance, stops spinning shortly after you release it?  Sounds like it's good
c) spins freely?  You have a bad fan clutch.

Now start the engine - can you hear the fan working?  Does the noise drop away after a few minutes with the engine running?  This is what should normally happen.

By the way - I answered your other post - I don't think you have a problem other than a very hot summer day in heavy traffic - there's a more detailed explanation there.

Hi Fordem

Thank you for the response. We found out the culprit in the rising engine temperature, it was the engine clutch fan. You are right, I tested the fan as you have explained it, there was no complete resistance, it was free wheeling when I tried turning the blades. And when the engine is in idling mode, there is no audible sound coming from the fan.

Thank you again.

A further test is with the engine totally up to temp, is to shut it down and immediately turn the fan by hand. At that point you SHOULD feel significant blade resistance. Looks like you got it whipped though.  

On this same subject, I was watching an HDTV show where these Brit guys buy cars and fix them for resale. The mechanic guy showed how he tests clutch fans. Are you ready for this? With the engine idling and a gloved hand, he GRABS the fan blade and stops it!!    WHAT a damn fool! And to suggest this to the public is criminal IMO. I still can't believe he did that.

Here they are. THESE fools on the Discovery Channel.

http://www.wheelerdealer.com/

Thank you guys for all the help. Good thing I was able to find out early my problem with the engine temperature rising.

As expected, the clutch fan was not up to specs anymore. There is no resistance turning the fan by hand in the morning. Experimenting on the clutch fan, all it takes is to remove 5 screws to be able to crack open the clutch fan housing into 2. Silicone oil was almost gone and the remaining seemed all burnt up. It took 5 tubes of silicone gel to top off the clutch fan housing. It was quite a simple procedure, there was only the center bearing inside the housing.

Upon assembly, tested to turn the fan before starting the engine, there was sufficient resistance. a good sign! Overall performance is still under observation, I will keep you posted.

Thank you for all the invaluable inputs.

Silicone gel eh?  The question I would have to ask is - does it disengage now?

What is supposed to happen is that when cold the fan clutch should disengage and allow the fan to pretty much "free wheel" - although it's actually the other way around - the hub is required to turn without driving the fan, then as the engine warms up, the air flowing through the radiator gets warmer, and warms the fan clutch.

As long as there is sufficent air flow through the radiator - usually due to the vehicle's forward motion -  to keep the engine within the operating temperature range, the clutch would remain disengaged, but if the engine temps, for any reason, get above normal, the air flowing through the radiator and over the fan clutch will also get warmer and warm the fan clutch which in turn should cause it to gradually engage and move more air through the radiator, bringing the temperature down.

OK - that's the theory of operation - how does it work in practice?

The ones I've seen have a bimetallic device that controls the flow of silicone oil, which is a liquid, so replacing that liquid with a gel might not be the best approach.

With the engine off, and the fan clutch stationary, the oil pools at the low spot and so if you turn the fan by hand, there is some resistance - when the engine starts, the centrifugal force redistributes the oil within the first minute or two of engine operation - typically you can hear this - the fan is quite loud when the engine is first started but within a matter of minutes it dies away to a whisper - some people mistake this for the engine noise as the engine will typically idle at 1800 rpm when first started and then drop back to 800 as it warms up.

Listen to the fan with the repaired clutch - can you hear it at startup - my guess is yes, does it die away shortly after?  If you step on the gas and bring the rpms up to 1800~2000 rpm after the engine warms up (but before it get's hot) can you hear the fan?  You shouldn't.

My apologies, what was used was silicone oil, all 5 tubes and it does hum when I warm up the engine in the morning and eventually disappear when it reaches the normal operating temperature. Let me do more observations and let you know over the weekend.

Sounds like your experiment may be a success then.

If you got A/c you have an electric fan and you can't miss it  when it start ,so i remove the belt on mine and the electric fan start when it need to .

So look for trouble on your electric fan the probleme is there .

Hope it can help

Marc