I lost my hydraulic fluid for my fan today. Had the AC on and outside temp was reading 102. I smelled some oil burning and I was on a newly paved road and thought it was the asphalt. My AC stopped cooling and I drove another 15-miles to home. About a mile from home temp was redlined. So I turned the heat on full and it brought the gauge down. At home I looked under the car and it looked like the hydraulic fluid had all leaked out and the res. was empty. Is there a presure relief valve or do I just need to start searching for a leak?
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Hydraulic Fan Leak
- Thread starter 1lincoln
- Start date
XxbmxlsxX
Well-Known LVC Member
its probably the pump leaking. check to see if fluid is all over the fan right where the lines go into it. if not its the pump most likely. the fan pump and power steering pumps both start leaking eventually. ive replaced both on my 2000 and its got 85000 miles on it.
I filled it up with fluid this morning and it shot right out. It was leaking below the reservoir but more towards the front of the car. It pretty much shot out all over the serpentene belt. Do these hoses have the disconnects like the AC lines with the o-rings? Can it be driven without the fluid or will it burn out the fan? I guess I can just keep filling it up until I pin-point the leak location.
XxbmxlsxX
Well-Known LVC Member
mine is 2000 v6 so i hope yours is similar.the pump is on the passenger side and has 3 bolts holding it on, they come from the side into the engine. then there is the high pressure line that goes to the fan. it has a threaded end that goes into the back of the fan and selas with an oring, i put teflon tape on it as well. when my pump started leaking it was pretty bad to and it leaked onto the belt. it wont burn up the fan but it could overheat the enginewhen the fan doesnt spin, which would suck. a new pump is like $275, heres one of the cheaper places to buy parts---
https://www.1stfordparts.com/oe_parts_catalog.html
once you get a new pump remove yours its not that hard. have a dealer swap the old pulley onto the new pump and then put it on. its pretty straight forward to do . just take your time , maybe take pictures as u take things off.
https://www.1stfordparts.com/oe_parts_catalog.html
once you get a new pump remove yours its not that hard. have a dealer swap the old pulley onto the new pump and then put it on. its pretty straight forward to do . just take your time , maybe take pictures as u take things off.
Last edited:
2001LS8Sport
Dedicated LVC Member
If you're good...and comfortable...with vehicle electronics, you might consider switching over to an electric fan set up. It's been done before and works very well. But you have some electric work to do. There's also a sensor in the hydraulic system that needs to be dealt with IIRC. You might search the archives here...there was a thread on one.
Got lucky on this one. I was all set to pull the pump. Jacked up the car, set it on jack stands, crawled underneath and started looking around. Well the pump looked like a little bit of a bitch to get out, since the pump was above the alternator I would need to take off also. Then I thought I might as well see if I could check the lines first and make sure they weren't leaking. Well from what I could see and feel the lines at the pump were tight, so I looked at the fan and there was one of the lines off. So a pretty easy fix, I got rid of the lousy compression clamp and put a hose clamp on it. That should hold it. In hindsight, thinking about what happened as soon as I would fill the reservoir and then start the car the fluid would shoot right out almost instantly. But it's shooting out all over so it's really hard to tell where it's coming from. But I think if it was the pump itself it would probably never shoot out that fast. Thanks...