Having spent many years "tinkering"with our 1990/91 XJ40 Sov 144400 Kiloms, I still am amazed that very few owners check their cars' fan for cracking around each of the angled blades. The replacement fan is not expensive when you consider the damage that can be caused by the Fan breaking away, flying off into the bonnet & radiator amongst other things. It is very easy ( 4 four small bolts) with time & patience, to replace the old yellow one with an after market fan. You do have to take of the radiator cowling but nothing else. I urge all owners to thoroughly inspect -(use magnifying glass if poss) the radiator fan blades as soon as possible if you have not already replaced the said villain.
Hope this word of caution is of some help.



Regards,



Michael Prichard
Melbourne Aus

 

Yes thanks Michael I suffered a fan disintegration straight after I bought my 91 kingfisher blue , but it was mostly due to the fan striking the radiator, this was due to the hillbillies who had the car for 12 months before me hit a stump and pushed the radiator support panel back, with the radiator. Just enough to make it rub, and so it eventually failed, putting a hole in the radiator. Expensive fix but all done now, and yes the xj40 looked superb on the back of the tray truck

 

Good advice.

Check the fan clutch while you're replacing the fan. If in question, now's obviously a convenient time to replace it.

In fact, while some fan clutches merely slip excessively with age, some actually do the opposite and begin to seize up. This is particularly dangerous if your fan blade is elderly and cracked, as the fan blade over-speeds.

Cheers
DD