Trying to take the fan off to facilitate changing out the belts. So I remove four bolts on the fan and now it's loose but stuck between the clutch in front and the pulley. Do I remove the cowl and then the clutch from the front?
Thanks much to this wonderful forum..

 

The fan blade and fan clutch are removed from the car as an assembly....a fiddly job on these cars

But......

You're adding an extra complication to belt replacement. You don't need to remove the fan. Just maneuver the belts over the fan blades.

Cheers
DD

 

But if you DO want to remove the fan (to change a yellowed and cracked fan, for example) then it helps to loosen the bolts that hold the cowl in place to permit a bit more wiggle room. The fan can then be removed quite easily.
And if the fan does have cracks radiating from the hub to the blades it is a better-than-good idea to replace it now - because you do not want those blades flying around; they cause a lot of damage. And for the record: the fan was white when the car left the factory. The yellowing is a result of heat and age.

 

Ok, was just following advice I heard a couple places elsewhere that strongly recommended removing the fan. Anyway, so the clutch fan assembly unbolts from the very front?

 

that was really bad advice.

 

That's the interweb for ya! I'm leaving the fan on. Belts look original! Yikes!

 

The fan clutch unbolts were it is attached to the pulley. Four nuts. Each one has to be loosened a few turns, then move on to the next, etc. so that the clutch can be wriggled away a bit...then all four nuts fully removed. Repeat, in reverse, for re-installation.

An Gregory is 100% correct about loosening the fan shroud to ease removal of the fan/clutch assembly. Two bolts at the top, two underneath....usually rusty.


Cheers
DD

 

my fan is yellow too and it has no cracks. This discussion about a white-fan-turned-yellow has been going on since the mid-1990's. Mechanics at the dealership who sold and serviced my car in Nashville Tennessee, Thoroughbred Motorcars, told me they had never seen a white fan in new XJ-6 !!

unless it shows obvious cracking, leave it alone. Belts are not that difficult to replace but it is not a piece of cake either. There is a definite "order" if you plan to replace all of them, so analyze them as to which one goes first, before you start removing them. I would also mark them with masking tape and magic marker as they are removed. It's easy to get confused.

Following the Service Manual is a good way to do it.

 

This Jaguar sales brochure clearly shows a white fan...so there was at least one !

http://www.jag-lovers.org/brochures/...84range_10.jpg

The fan for the V12 does a a yellow-ish tinge, though !

Cheers
DD

 

maybe they started out sort of Almond color ?

maybe they ran out of white ones and we got 12 cylinder yellow fans?

what I say is that my fan or fan clutch has not been changed since I purchased the car, it has not exploded either.

And in all these years, I have not heard of any fan exploding and chewing its way through the hood. Not once.

but if it has happened, maybe they started messing with the fan, or replaced the clutch and forgot to tighten the bolts? It happens you know.

 

The exploding fan generally requires two things: a cracked fan and and seized clutch. One without the other probably won't cause a problem.

A seized clutch = no slippage = excessive fan RPM at all times. Together with a cracked fan it can be trouble !

Metal fans are not necessary better. A pal with an earlier XJ6 had one of the blades come off his steel fan...destroying the radiator, as I recall, but nothing else, fortunately.

Cheers
DD

 

When I removed the original, as far as I knew, fan from my car, I saw a bunch of cracks around the hub. I tossed it. I had it sold!!! but, as I was given a new and supposedly superior black fan, I sent it. Yuk, I trusted the guy. He never paid up.


But, I am sensitive to fans departing their assigned locations/ been there!!!


The intake grill at the bottom of my car's windscreen is plastic and coated with chrome. It was peeling and looked awful. Yellow plastic !!!


So, if in doubt as to the fan and the coupling, I'd replace 'em.


Carl

 

The belts that came out of my car were all the toothed type. The car came with a new set of belts in the trunk but they are all the smooth type. Is there a preference or quality difference?

 

Smooth is fine, no worries.

I think the notched belts are supposed to run a little cooler but I'd go ahead with the smooth belts

Cheers
DD

 

if the old belts are not cracked in two, save them for an emergency.