Help, fan in front of intercooler smoking

salden77 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:42 pm **Posts:** 271

i went to mud bog were i live in upstate new york, of course i had to take the jeep through, couldnt help myself. of course i had the smallest vehicle and stock lift but i could keep up with the jeep wranglers and i plowed through the mud a lot easier than them granted i have all the torque, on the way home today i noticed my temp gauge up 3/4s of and then a little bit hotter. so i pulled over to let it cool down at a car wash in time to see the little fan between the front grille and the intercooler start smoking and smelled terrible, so of course i pulled the fuse quickly in fear that it was going to start on fire. now im having trouble overheating over a 10 mile drive. also my passenger side fender flare popped off taking the inner fender lining with it because the mud was so heavy and i have to get the little push in clips to put the fender lining back in so im wondering if it has thrown off the reading on a temperature sensor. my big fan that is in the fan shroud does spin at idle. it has been around 67 degrees here.

racertracer · **Posted:** Sun May 01, 2011 2:15 pm

I would start by hosing down the radiator, the fan and everything on the engine that has mud on it. I'd power wash the radiator and fan, there maybe grit holding the fan from turnig.....so blow it out being careful not to damage anything else.

salden77 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:42 pm **Posts:** 271

i did do that, and i took my skid plates off and sprayed them all off since they were packed with mud, front skid must have weighed at least 50 lbs lol. does anyone know when that little fan is supposed to kick on?

racertracer · **Posted:** Sun May 01, 2011 2:38 pm

Take the electric fan off and hose it down a little from the underside, get into the area where the plastic fan blades meet the electric motor.

WD40 that area, it displaces moisture and keeps it moving freely.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Sun May 01, 2011 2:51 pm

X2 racertracer's comments. I suspect you have 2 issues. 1) overheating due to mud/debris clogging the radiator/intercooler which need a good washing and a check while washing or after with a light to make sure air/water can pass all the way through as "stuff" can get really packed in there so you may have to flush from both sides (thru grill and from inside engine compartment). Consider that you were stuffing mud in from the front so it may work better to push it out from the back vs. trying to push it on thru from the front if it's really packed in there. 2) the little fan is electric and I suspect it's clogged with enough mud to prevent it from turning hence the smoke and horrible smell (likely an overheating electrical smell). It's a 2 speed fan and I know it activates almost immediately after turning on the AC but do not know if anything else activates it. It's a pusher fan (e.g. pushes air through the AC condensor) so try to hose it out with the ignition off and at the same time see if you can get it to spin by reaching thru the grill with a long screwdriver and gently pushing up or down on a fan blade. It should move quite easily both CW and CCW with only slight resistance and no grinding (mine does anyway), if it does crank the engine and turn on the AC, the fan should fire up within seconds if it's not fried.

CRITICAL be very reluctant to use any sort of pressure washing especially inside the engine compartment. There are several strings on the forum about folks who pressure washed their engine and had horrible subsequent electical problems due to water in various fittings.

salden77 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:42 pm **Posts:** 271

well thanks a lot, i power washed the radiator and intercooler from the front and it didnt work, but when i did it through the engine compartment it pushed a lot of dirt and mud out, probably still have more to do but i at least i can keep the temperature just below halfway mark.

Help, fan in front of intercooler smoking

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